Energy Market Liberalization in Romania
An Event Powered by CCIPH
Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIPH), in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, the National Regulatory Authority for Energy (ANRE) and the Petroleum-Gas University (PGU) of Ploiesti on May 20 organized an event-debate on the topic of energy market liberalization in Romania, in which Energy Industry Review was one of the media partners.
Within this event, which enjoyed the presence of over 80 participants – officials, institutional guest and representatives of the business community, the following topics were subject to debate:
- What does the energy market liberalization mean
- What is the difference between a distributor and a supplier
- What does the energy bill contain
- How to change the energy and gas supplier
- What happens if the supplier is not changed
- What are the benefits of liberalization
- How can one reduce the electricity and gas bill.
The event was opened by the President of Prahova Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Aurelian Gogulescu.
In his speech, he stated: “Energy market liberalization in Romania is a real challenge for all actors involved – government authorities, regulatory authorities, suppliers, and consumers, but also a very important step forward, as it means elimination of the regulated price, practiced so far, and allows the customer to choose the offer that suits him best. The fact that today’s webinar brought together all these actors, to make an exchange of information very useful to everyone, on a highly topical issue, is for CCI Prahova an important reason of satisfaction and therefore I would like to thank all our partners for the organization.”
In the opening session, George-Sergiu Niculescu – Secretary of State in the Ministry of Energy and Ph.D. Prof. Habil. Eng. Florinel Dinu – Rector of the Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti also participated and took the floor during the debate.
Ph.D. Prof. Eng. Filip Carlea – Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, attached to the Romanian Academy, made a presentation about energy market liberalization in the national and European context.
On behalf of the National Regulatory Authority for Energy participated Claudiu Dumbraveanu – Director General, Energy Market General Directorate, and Alina Tache – Director, Retail Energy Market Directorate, which together with two independent experts in the energy market – Vasile Ailene and Madalin Dinu, answered the questions and issues raised, during the question-and-answer session.
As usual, the actions organized by CCI Prahova were also attended by traditional partners of the Prahova Chamber Organization: Cornel Nitu – President of CECCAR Prahova, Florin Duma – President of Prahova SME Employers and Giovanni Baldantoni – President of Palazzo Italia Bucharest.
According to PGU Ploiesti Rector, Ph.D. Prof. Habil. Eng. Florinel Dinu, “The fact that regulated energy tariffs are eliminated is a good thing, and the initiative of CCI Prahova to organize this event, which is aimed at answering many questions related to this process, is extremely beneficial. I can tell you that, so far, 80% of energy consumers in Romania have remained at the same supplier and 20% of the total number of consumers have concluded such contracts.”
Currently, the process of changing the energy supplier lasts maximum 21 days.
In the EU regulations have been prepared so that, by 2026, the technical process of changing the supplier to be completed within 24 hours. The project refers to the realization and implementation (at national level) of an online platform that optimizes the operational processes in the energy market – generated by the requests to change the electricity and natural gas supplier by managing the information flow in an automated way.
The IT platform will use the unique database at national level for approximately 13 million household and non-household customers, of which: approximately 9 million consumers of electricity and approximately 4 million consumers of natural gas. A unique online accessible system will also be used for market participants involved in changing the supplier. The value of the project is approximately RON 20 million, being co-financed from the European Social Fund (ESF), through the Operational Program Administrative Capacity (OPAC) 2014-2020.
“Romania is the last country in the EU where the electricity market hasn’t been liberalized, which was mandatory under the European legislation,” the Director of the Centre for the Promotion of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency outlined.
