Romania's Govt says it notified EC on temporary energy price regulation

Romania’s Energy Ministry sent on January 9 “a five-page signed letter” to the European Energy Commissioner, Miguel Arias Canete, explaining why the Government needed to pass the emergency ordinance (OUG) 114/2018, energy minister Anton Anton said in a debate in the expert committee at the Chamber of Deputies, local Economica.net reported.

The minister implied that the letter would stand as a notification for temporary regulation of the energy market due to market failures -- a procedure that allows countries such episodes, provided they are adequately documented.

The OUG was passed by the Government in December before the “five-page letter” was sent to the EC. It is thus legally enacted, but indeed it remains subject to amendments in Parliament.

The liberalization process Romania completed in 2017 harmed the functioning of the gas and electricity markets during 2017-2018, resulting mainly in severe gas and electricity shortage on the market and the massive rise in prices, the letter reads. The Government also invokes a letter of the Energy Utilities Association Federation (ACUE), which the Ministry says “is extremely relevant and calls for immediate action” to halt the adverse effects seen on the gas and electricity markets during the period 2017-2018.

Romania is a country with one of the highest levels of energy poverty in the EU and rising prices in the last year directly affect the standard of living of the population, the Ministry argues. Against this background, given the need to protect more than 9 million households against uncontrollable and unpredictable growth in prices, it is necessary for some time to establish a form of price control under the conditions regulated by ANRE, the Ministry concluded.

(Photo source: Facebook / Ministerul Energiei-Romania