The price of electricity and heat increases slightly, from November 1, amid the 62% increase in the cogeneration tax, from 0.0084 lei/kWh – last year, to 0.0136 lei/kWh – starting Saturday, according to a press release issued by the Smart Energy Association (AEI).
“Since 2011, Romanians have been required to pay a high-efficiency cogeneration tax for each kWh consumed, with the aim of financing the construction of new plants/modernization of existing ones, which would have a higher efficiency and thus produce much cheaper electricity and heat in the future. Basically, after 14 years of paying this tax on electricity by Romanians, we should have had cheaper and not more expensive heat and electricity,” says AEI president Dumitru Chisaliță, quoted by Agerpres.
The high-efficiency cogeneration tax or contribution is an amount charged to the customer for each kWh of electricity consumed, introduced to finance energy producers that simultaneously generate electricity and heat (cogeneration), with high efficiency.
This scheme was established in accordance with the Energy Efficiency Directive (Directive 2004/8/EC, transposed in Romania by Government Decision no. 1215/2009 and ANRE Order no. 107/2011), and provided for the development in Romania, with the money collected from this tax, of cogeneration plants with efficiencies of 75 – 80%, namely plants in which fuel costs were to be reduced by 2.5 times, thus allowing the real possibility of reducing the price of electricity and thermal energy (the efficiency of old Romanian CHPs being estimated in some works at around 30%).
“The speculation of some articles of the European Directive on the production of electricity in high-efficiency cogeneration allowed the change of the purpose for which the cogeneration tax was designed, and it was diverted to continue the “disguised subsidy” of the thermal energy production system,” Chisăliță mentions.
The initial duration of the scheme was 2011 – 2023 and, subsequently, was extended until 2033. The value of the tax evolved during this period, reaching the value of 0.00136 lei/kWh starting with November 1, 2025, when it will increase by 62%.
The AEI specialist claims that, from 2011 to the end of 2024, over 13 billion lei (approximately 2.6 billion euros) were accumulated, money that was used almost exclusively to subsidize thermal energy in 10-15 cities.
“This increase of the cogeneration tax amount determines a 0.5% increase in the price of electricity. Of course, this increase in the price of electricity is not significant, but the issue of fairness arises: Why should an electricity consumer from a village in the Apuseni Mountains, who has no income, pay part of the thermal energy bill of a person living in a city with salaries of thousands of euros? Starting with November 1, 2025, a reduced VAT of 11% for district heating comes into force, valid until March 31, 2026, intended for heating the population, schools, hospitals and other public institutions, but only during the period November 1 – March 31, according to Law no. 39/2023 and the updated Fiscal Code (art. 291 paragraph 3 letter n)”, the president of the AEI sent.
According to the cited source, the price billed to the population for one gigacalorie (Gcal) in Bucharest, from November 1, 2025, will be 366.94 lei (including VAT), and the estimated monthly costs for paying for thermal energy are 330 – 370 lei for a studio apartment, 480 – 550 lei for a two-room apartment, between 320 and 730 lei for a three-room apartment and between 870 and 990 lei for a four-room apartment.
Thus, according to the IEA, in the winter of 2025/2026 we will have a 2% increase in the price of thermal energy for the final consumer. In this context, the average cost of thermal energy in Bucharest, in the winter months of 2025/2024, will be higher by about 8 lei/month for a studio apartment and by up to 18 lei/month for a four-room apartment.