Romania is in third place in the European ranking of the highest electricity prices, in a region that traditionally occupies the first positions in this negative indicator, said Cătălin Stancu, Associated Senior Expert at Horváth, at the Energy Strategy Summit 2026, organized by Energynomics.
“It is impossible to be competitive at the level of industrial production if you are the champion in the price of energy,” said Stancu.
The expert explained that after the declines recorded after 2022, when prices were reduced by almost 60%, the year 2025 brought a return to high levels, practically canceling the gains of 2024. The main factors are the increase in the price of natural gas and the evolution of the ETS scheme. Natural gas, although it covers only 20% of European energy production, sets the day-ahead market price 70% of the time, according to the Draghi report, which Stancu cited as a central reference of the analysis.
Stancu made a comparative analysis of energy prices in Romania with those in Spain, a comparison that illustrates the stakes of the problem. The two countries had a similar production mix in 2018, but currently the price difference is almost 50 euros/MWh, Romania being around 110 euros compared to 60 euros in Spain. The divergence comes mainly from the explosion of generation from photovoltaic sources in Spain, which has increased eightfold in eight years, from 5 to 40 GW, significantly reducing the hours in which the market closes on gas, namely 600 hours in Spain compared to 5,000 in Romania.
Romania started to recover in terms of solar capacities starting from 2023, but remains at a level of 6-7% contribution of photovoltaics, compared to 20% in Spain. Stancu emphasized that, without solutions to put pressure on the price for the next day, the objective of Romania having a competitive energy will only remain at the desirable stage. A further calculation shows that, in Romania, every extra euro in the price of gas is reflected in two euros in the final price of energy, compared to a ratio of 1 to 1.2 in Spain.
Energy Strategy Summit 2026 was organised by Energynomics, with the support of our partners: Elektra Renewable Support, 4P Renewables, ABB, Alive Capital, Atmoce, Baringa, BCR, Big Store, Capalo AI, CBRE Romania, Distribuție Energie Electrică România, Eastship, Distributie Oltenia parte din Evryo, Eaton Electric, Electrica Furnizare, Electroalfa, Electroprecizia, EnergoBit, Enery, Enexus, Eurowind, Evryo, Exim Banca Romaneasca, Hagag Energy, KStar, LONGi, MBK Power Energy, MET Romania Energy, Monsson Trading, Nextpower, OX2, Romgaz, Schraubram, Sigenergy, Softenerg WEBUS 4 ENERGY, Solar Today, Sunotec, TBEA, Think Blu Solution, Transelectrica, Waldevar Energy, WTW Romania. Coffee Break Partner Enerta. Lanyard Partner Monsson Operation. Beverage Partners Aqua Carpatica, Alexandrion. Digital Partner Imsol. Mobility Partner BlackCab.