Niculescu (ANRE): Offers in energy price comparator have improved in recent period

  The offers in the energy price comparator have improved in the last period, and those who cannot provide the supply activity can come to the regulatory authority to hand over the licenses and let those who can provide the supply in a correct way, declared, on Tuesday, in a press conference, the president of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), George Niculescu."I would also like to tell those who cannot provide electricity that it is not mandatory. They can come to the regulatory authority and hand over their supply licenses and leave this market to those who can really provide electricity in a fair way, because it is more honest than seeing prices of 5 lei per kilowatt/hour, respectively 8 lei per kilowatt/hour in the price comparator. I also want to appreciate the fact that, in the last period, the offers in the price comparator have improved, in the sense that more suppliers have improved their offers, reducing the price they offered to energy consumers," said Niculescu.According to the ANRE official, an analysis carried out at the institution level, on what constitutes the correct determination of the price of electricity, showed differences between the price resulting from the research and the price published by suppliers in the price comparator."The variable component, from our point of view, is the one related to the acquisition component and the supply component. And here there was a whole debate with the suppliers whether they should publish these components in a transparent way. We know very well that the latest form of the Ordinance obliges them to do this. We insisted that their margins should also be set transparently as a process of regaining trust in the supplier. So, the more transparent I, the consumer, see the method of price formation, the more I trust the respective supplier and I will understand that it can offer me energy at a fair price. The analysis that my colleagues conducted had a very large volume of data."Basically, we took all bilateral contracts, all contracts concluded at the market term, we estimated the imbalances, the quantities traded in the PZU (Day-Ahead Market, ed.n), as well as the price for July. So, we also have estimates. For some of them, we noticed differences between the price that came out of our analysis and the price published by them in the price comparator. The differences in some cases are very, very small, and in some cases they amount to approximately 10%. Then, once all transactions for July are concluded, we will be able to determine the exact quantity of Spot energy traded, as well as the price at which this energy was traded," the head of ANRE mentioned.Regarding prosumers, Niculescu pointed out that, from July 1, for the over 260,000 prosumers in Romania, individuals and legal entities, with installed power up to 200 kilowatts, "there will be no impact" of the Ordinance. "After the end of the capping - compensation scheme, on Spot the value of the kilowatt/hour consumed is equal to the value of the kilowatt/hour produced and delivered to the network. Absolutely nothing changes from this point of view. They are not negatively impacted at all," George Niculescu said.The electricity price capping scheme ended on Monday, June 30, 2025, after almost four and a half years, with prices set to be set again on the free market from July 1, 2025.Thus, starting Tuesday, the capped prices of 0.68 lei/kWh, 0.80 lei/kWh and 1.3 lei/kWh, depending on consumption, will no longer apply, consumers will pay the prices in the contract concluded with the supplier. According to the offers sent to customers, the new prices reach around 1.5 lei/kWh, which means that, in the case of those with consumption up to 100 KWh, the bill could double.However, consumers have the possibility to change their supplier, online, when they find a better offer, and the National Energy Regulatory Authority recommends that consumers check the price comparator (https://posf.ro/comparator?comparatorType=electric) to choose the offer they consider to be the most advantageous.For vulnerable consumers, the Government approved in the meeting at the end of last week the granting of monthly aid worth 50 lei, in the form of an electronic voucher, for the payment of electricity bills.Also, in the case of prosumers, if they have a contract in force with an electricity supplier, it remains valid with the same clauses. Regarding the price, if a contract expires after July 1, 2025, the provisions and price of the contract should apply until its expiration, when a new offer will be submitted. For prosumers with installed capacity of over 200 kW and up to 400 kW, suppliers are obliged to purchase the electricity produced and delivered at a price equal to the weighted average price recorded in the Day-Ahead Market in the month in which the respective energy was produced.