As of July 1, 2025, Romania has returned to a free electricity market, say experts Future Energy Leaders (FEL) Romania. This liberalization means three key things for consumers: prices are no longer dictated by the state, but by competitive mechanisms between suppliers; bills will reflect the real cost of energy, which may be lower or higher than the previously capped level; and price differences between offers become visible, stimulating suppliers to offer competitive tariffs.

Under these circumstances, it becomes relevant for consumers to know and understand the components of the electricity bill and the weight of each of them in the final amount paid. Thus, it is important to know that there are three main categories of elements that together make up the final amount payable: 1. energy, 2. transmission and distribution tariffs, and 3. contributions, taxes and charges.

Based on Eurostat data on price components for household consumers (1-2.5 MWh/year), the cited analysis shows that before June 30, 2025, Romania will be in a significantly advantageous position compared to the EU average and even compared to Bulgaria.

Thus, if we look exclusively at the sum of the energy price and the supplier’s margin, in 2024 this value was almost three times lower in Romania than the EU average. In absolute figures, while the European average was around 60 euros per 100 kWh, in Romania the indicator was around 20 euros per 100 kWh, and in Bulgaria around 30 euros per 100 kWh – a proof of the effectiveness of capping mechanisms and policies to support the internal market. This difference has been made possible by strictly controlling procurement costs and keeping the suppliers’ margins low, while the Romanian government has committed to subsidize the difference between the market price and the price charged to consumers.

In the context in which consumers have the legal right to change their supplier at any time, free of charge, it is important that the choice of a new contract is made in an informed and responsible way, emphasize FEL Romania experts in the above-mentioned press release. Using the data provided by them, we have created a graph that visually expresses the weight of the component elements in the final amount of the bill. We have explained below each component element and its role.

In-band power purchase is the cost of energy purchased in advance for the whole billing period, negotiated through the products available on the market; it represents about one third of the bill excluding VAT and about 65% of the active energy price.

Profiling consumption is the amount paid to cover the differences between actual and estimated consumption, for which the supplier has made a banded purchase. Its share in the price varies between 10-25% of the price of active energy, i.e. around 10% of the bill excluding VAT.

System balancing includes the charges levied by the transmission system operator for rapid interventions by power plants to maintain real-time generation-consumption balance in the grid. It accounts for 5-10% of the price of active energy, i.e. about 3.75% of the bill excluding VAT.

Supplier’s margin is the commercial mark-up of the company delivering the energy to the customer, which covers operational costs (personnel, IT, billing, risk of non-recovery, etc.) and profit. The margin has a share in the price of 5-10% of the active energy price, i.e. about 3.75% of the bill excluding VAT.

Transmission (Transelectrica) is the tariff for passing through the national high-voltage grid, set by the regulatory authority (ANRE) and calculated in lei/kWh for each kilowatt-hour consumed, the same regardless of the region in which the place of consumption is located. Currently, the share of transportation is 3.15% of the bill excluding VAT.

Distribution (medium and low voltage) comprises the regional tariffs for the use of the medium and low voltage distribution networks, which also cover operating and maintenance costs, investments and operators’ profit. These are set by ANRE and calculated in lei/kWh, different depending on the specifics of the network in each region, currently between 0.294 and 0.364 lei/kWh. For this graph we used a fictitious tariff, as an average of these values, resulting in a distribution share of 23.85% of the bill without VAT

Green certificates represent the mandatory and general contribution to support the production of energy from renewable sources, on the basis of which the investments in generation capacities of about 5 GW of the first wave of renewables in Romania were realized. The scheme is valid until 2031. Calculated in lei per kWh, the share of green certificates in the final bill excluding VAT is about 19.68%.

Cogeneration contribution is a tax intended to promote the production of energy through high efficiency cogeneration, set by ANRE, with a share of 2.27% in the final bill excluding VAT.

Excise duty is a tax levied directly on each kWh consumed with the aim of generating revenue for the budget and, at the same time, discouraging excessive consumption. At present, the excise duty is about 1% of the final bill without VAT.

CfD contribution covers the administrative costs of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) support scheme which provides revenue stability for low-emission power producers. Almost invisible in the graph, the share of this contribution is about 0.07% of the final invoice excluding VAT.

VAT at 21% (from August 1, 2025 – 19% previously) is applied at the end of the billing cycle on the cumulative amount of all previous components, increasing the final bill paid by the consumer.

To support consumers in making an informed decision, Future Energy Leaders Romania’s experts offer the following recommendations at the stage of concluding an electricity supply contract:

• Compare the offers of the electricity suppliers on the market: this can be done through the comparator available on the website of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) available here;
• Carefully analyze the contract before signing, in particular review the clauses on price update, automatic contract amendment and change of circumstances clauses as these may include the supplier’s right to automatically change the contract price, as well as those on contract duration and termination;
• Keep a copy of the signed contract to hand.

Finally, if you encounter difficulties in concluding the contract or feel that your rights have not been respected, you can contact ANRE.

FEL Romania brings together professionals from key areas of the energy sector: energy law, regulation, strategic communication, energy engineering, project development, business development, energy trading & commercialization, prosumers and renewable energy. The press release on which this article is based has been realized with the contribution of FEL Romania members: Raluca Andronoiu, Raluca Gabor, Daniela Goreacii, Rareș Hurghiș, Lucian Pamfile, Olivian Savin, Vlad Tufan.