Romania's energy minister Virgil Popescu "suspects an illegal cartel agreement between the energy suppliers [on the residential market]," he told local news agency Agerpres in an interview.

The suppliers did not purchase electricity in advance from the wholesale market at the lowest possible costs for delivering it to the population minister Popescu, explained in the interview. He implied that the suppliers are now exposed to the high prices on the spot market.

The suppliers expected that the authorities would return to regulated prices, and that's why they haven't purchased electricity in advance for the second half of the year, he said.

The Competition Council said that it has two ongoing investigations related to the electricity market liberalization for household clients.

"Since the beginning of the liberalization process, we have been involved, together with the Ministry of Energy and the market regulator ANRE, in the process of identifying the best solutions for consumers, especially households. We carefully analyze what is happening in the market. We already have two ongoing investigations, and we will use all legal levers to discourage any incorrect behavior because it can undermine the entire liberalization process," Competition Council head Bogdan Chiritoiu said, according to Economica.net.

andrei@romania-insider.com

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