Some of the current difficulties in the energy sector could have been reduced if substantial investments had been made in strengthening and expanding distribution networks in recent years, said on Monday the chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, Energy Infrastructure and Mineral Resources, Lorant Antal.

“Many problems also come because, in the last three decades, distribution companies, unfortunately, have not kept pace with economic development. This means that, especially in the natural gas chapter, we are underdeveloped, given that only 40-45% of the entire Romania is connected to natural gas networks, and in the case of electricity networks, we unfortunately have many problems there too,” said Lorant Antal, according to Agerpres.

In his opinion, the energy sector is in a position to catch up on historical delays, in parallel with the integration of new production capacities and adaptation to the energy transition.

“We must also respond to today’s challenges and we must somehow have the ability to project the future. I think this is a huge challenge,” Antal said.

He stressed that some of the current difficulties could have been mitigated by more consistent investments in distribution infrastructure.

“If in the last 15 years that billion had been spent on new electricity networks, then maybe today we would have other challenges or maybe we would no longer have some of the existing challenges,” he added.