Romanian utility companies face prices well above those estimated by Govt.

Several electricity supply companies on September 5 launched auctions to purchase power for their own use, on the local market, at a price in line with that estimated by the Government under the “cap and subsidy” scheme recently amended - RON 1,300 per MWh. Still, they received offers at a price that is up to three times higher, Economica.net reported.

Specifically, the companies were offered “band” electricity (namely electricity provided at a constant rate during the contractual period) at a price of RON 3,900 per MWh for Q4 this year and RON 3,000 per MWh for the year 2023.

The utility companies have vocally criticised the provisions of the revised scheme, arguing that the RON 1,300 price used by the Government for the purpose of estimating (and compensating) their expenditures is well above the actual prices on the market.

Minister of energy Virgil Popescu, speaking about this for Digi24 TV station, claimed that the estimated price was provided by the marker operator OPCOM and it represents the weighted average prices actually paid by the utility companies under existing long-term contracts and on the spot market.

The RON 3,900 price asked in the auctions organised by the companies on September 5 refers to contracts with delivery dates in Q4 this year and the year 2023.

(Photo: Kontakt5956/ Dreamstime)