The steps following the exit from the energy price capping mechanism must be prepared during this year and solutions must be found for the market to function well, with reasonable prices and the protection of the vulnerable, said, on Tuesday, the president of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chirițoiu.

“Energy felt the most massive intervention that the state has had in recent years, also because it underwent the strongest crisis. (…) Now prices have largely returned to normal. The energy shock of the war from Ukraine has been absorbed to a good extent, we see how the prices have fallen and are starting to be below the level at which they were capped by the Government. And therefore, during this year, we must at least prepare the next steps. At some point given, we will have to get out of this energy price ceiling mechanism and, during this year, the Government, with the regulator and with us, must find solutions for the market to function well, with reasonable prices and with measures to protect the vulnerable . (…) They will have to be assisted in the future. We must have the steps prepared for the normalization of the situation, for the exit from this extraordinary situation of price capping and the entry into a normal period of functioning of the energy market,” explained Chirițoiu, quoted by Agerpres.

He reminded that the current Law says that the capping mechanism is in force until the spring of next year and he emphasized that, in his opinion, this year “we have to think about what we do after that”.

Bogdan Chirițoiu mentioned that one of the proposals of the Competition Council for improving the legal framework aims at the fact that, in the case of a contract, both parties should respect their commitments.

“It seems that there are dysfunctions in the market. The fact that you can easily get out of a contract… I promised a customer that I would give him energy at a price and when I see that the price has doubled on the market, then I don’t I give more energy, terminate the contract and go and sell it on the market at a higher price. It happened (…). When you have a contract, the contract is for better or for worse (…) This kind of behavior would not should be allowed. Both parties should respect their commitments in the contract. This is one of the proposals we make to improve the legal framework,” said the president of the competition authority.

He specified that, in the new architecture of the energy market, the European Commission recommends that we have very long-term contracts for domestic consumers.

“We, in Romania, also have contracts for a few months… We need to have longer-term contracts that give predictability,” said Chirițoiu.

He added that another proposal is that the suppliers are all obliged to have some kind of standard offer, easily comparable for consumers.