The Intelligent Energy Association (AEI) requests the Government, through an open letter, to urgently take some measures to avoid the doubling of the gas price in 2025, coming up with a proposal for a Post-Capping Energy Price Strategy.

According to a press release, the price of natural gas reached on Monday on the TTF Stock Exchange the value of 27.85 euro/MWh, a price 10 times (925%) lower than the period in which Romania implements the gas price ceiling (277.66 euro/MWh – August 2022 ).

“In August 2022, Romanians paid 0.31 lei/kWh for gas consumed, today they pay 0.29 lei/kWh, i.e. 6% less. Moreover, to avoid that after March 31, 2025, when the validity of the price cap expires for gas, people to pay double prices for gas, the AEI requests the Government, through an open letter, to urgently take some measures to reach the correct price for consumers. In this sense, in order to support the Executive and the Romanians, we are submitting a proposal for a Post-Capping Energy Price Strategy,” said the president of AEI, Dumitru Chisăliță.

In 2022, the Government of Romania approved several normative acts regarding the application of measures to manage the effects of the increase in energy and natural gas prices, which will expire on March 31, 2025. Thus, the legislation issued suspended the price from the contracts and established the application of a capped price of 0.31 lei/kWh for household consumers, with payment from the state budget of the difference between the suppliers’ purchase costs and the capped price, if the costs are higher than 0.31 lei/kWh.

“If the suppliers’ costs were lower than 0.31 lei/kWh, then the supplier calculated every month a sales price composed of the purchase costs to which a regulated margin is added. The gas price in the gas sales contracts, which are suspended until March 31, 2025, are at a level of around 0.55 lei/kWh, a price that will most likely remain valid at least until the summer of 2025,” the document states, according to Agerpres.

Thus, starting from April 2025, the prices in the invoices will be double.

“Probably in the summer of 2025, competition will timidly reappear on the gas market, but it will bring slightly lower prices, in the best case scenario starting from 2026. This option will bring all the risks that existed in the market before the price cap at gas (some abusive clauses, price increases as a result of some clauses in the contract, etc.),” claim AEI representatives.

According to the cited source, the Intelligent Energy Association requests the Government to urgently take some measures to reach the correct price for consumers, considering that in the absence of appropriate actions carried out as early as 2024, when the effect of these measures ceases, the price of gas in Romanians’ bills it could be double.

Thus, in order to avoid that the gas price in gas sales contracts, which are double at the moment, become the actual price paid by consumers after March 31, 2025, it is necessary to carry out activities such as the urgent start of a massive information campaign and preparing consumers for the reliberalization of the gas market.

AEI representatives also request the professionalization of the “watchdogs” of a free market – the reorganization of ANRE, the Competition Council, ANPC and the replacement of reactive elements in their working mode as the main actions – the fining of those who violate the law after reporting abuses, with preventive actions and reducing consumer abuses and preventing violations of the law.

The list of measures also includes: the establishment of an entity for Alternative Resolution of disputes on the energy market, developed as a Public Partnership with a specialized Non-Profit Association; the suspension for a period of 3 years of the provisions of the Civil Code regarding the energy market by which suppliers can extend a supply contract without the customer’s actual signature on an additional contract/act.

At the same time, AEI considers market regulations necessary. Among them is the organization by ANRE (directly and indirectly) of sessions/actions for competitive natural gas bidding starting on April 1, 2024, in order to restore competition.

The representatives of the association also refer to the gas subscription, requesting, among other things, the application of the model for flattening the cost peaks in winter periods with the transfer of costs to the period with minimum cost (warm period) and the publication of the commercial margin on gas bills which, according to estimates AEI means a reduction in gas prices by about 2% (based on data from 2021).

There are also fiscal measures on the list, such as: VAT reduction from 19% to 5% for the next year for all newly concluded contracts.