Romania has some things to negotiate with the European Commission and these negotiations are based on documents, on concrete elements, assumed with responsibility, not on serious statements, such as those about the imminent blackout, which do nothing but scare people, claims the president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority, George Niculescu.
“The imminence of the blackout can only be treated as a joke. Because it is not serious when it is announced fatalistically, without any figures behind it. Otherwise, things are simple: Romania has some things to negotiate with the European Commission. These negotiations are done on documents, on concrete elements, assumed with responsibility, not on serious declarations. My words about this ‘imminence’ were more direct because I understand the possible consequences of a blackout and, no matter how much I think about it, I don’t see how it can be responsible to scare people that they will remain in the dark”, Niculescu wrote on his Facebook page, quoted by Agerpres.
He explained that a blackout means a long-term, generalized interruption of the power supply, during which nothing works: neither the subway, nor the internet, nor the television, nor the computer and, after the battery runs out, neither the mobile phone or laptop, nor the gas pump, nor the traffic lights on the street, nor the railway traffic lights, nor the refrigerator at home, nor the one at the pharmacy. There may also be problems with the water supply and the disposal of wastewater.
“Specialists from several countries have made scenarios regarding the number of hours that people can spend, without incident, in the total absence of electricity, to find out what the threshold is until which society, as we know it, will shake. This is because the blackout is not just a lack of electricity supply, it is a test of how we want and are willing to respect the rules together until the lights come on again, without panic. Alarming statements about the imminence of the blackout only scare people. Imagine that tomorrow a bank president would say that his bank would be ‘imminently’ without cash. What do you think would happen? Imagine that a chain of stores would announce that it would be ‘imminently’ without a product like bottled water. What do you think would happen? I will come back every time it is needed, with the tone that will be needed, to reject the creation of panic and fear in society,” Niculescu pointed out.
Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan announced last month that he had commissioned an independent study through Transelectrica that showed that Romania, if it were to close the coal-fired units at the Oltenia Energy Complex, would be “really” at risk of blackouts.
Two days ago, ANRE President George Niculescu signaled, at a conference on energy issues, that “a little order” is needed in public communication, given that recent messages have been apocalyptic, announcing imminent blackouts, tripled bills and the highest electricity price in the world.