Opinion: Romanian Energy Center, on the Romanian energy market and the most significant player, the population

The Romanian Energy Center expressed its opinion on the local energy market, after it had considered specific analysis on the market, delivered by different institutions.

2015-03-16 14:27:05

"We believe current situation not to be ideal, but the Romanian energy market has to be undertaken to a deeper level by its players, all along the energy chain, from producers to end user. The overall charge for electric energy of the population includes elements that mirror the real state of electricity infrastructure - old, with a high level of energy loss. These increase the cost component within the operational ecuation. Hence, in order to encourage the investments on this market, the completed objectives increase the asset pool of operators and, subsequently, the operation costs assumed by the regulator," Corneliu Bodea, president of Romanian Energy Center (CRE).

For that reason, CRE considers that a comparison of energy tariffs in Romania and other EU countries is irrelevant, considering several aspects:

- The share of national costs with transportation and distribution within the final price (higher compared to other EU states) is also generated by the fact that any system as such has a component of flat price, independent of the volume of circulated energy. The decrease in energy consumption registered in the last 20 years generated a continuous increase of this share within the price paid by the consumer.
- Romania's strategy in the sector of energy distribution based on attracting investors in order to secure an investment volume for the development of this industry also triggered the acknowledgment of the afferent costs within the final bill, once the investments have been completed.
- The technical status of transportation and distribution networks, besides the manner they have been developed first of all, is not capable to secure an efficiency level comparable to other EU states. The length of low and medium voltage networks is significantly high and the afferent loses are larger in Romanian compared to other states in the EU.

Therefore, the Romanian Energy Center expresses its support for the investment strategy in electricity networks that are leading to efficiency increase and reduction of technical and commercial losses. It also underlines the strategy favoring the increase of energy consumption in efficient manner and harmonized with the overall economic targets.

Also, as CRE statement utters, a more attentive approach of the consumer can also lead to the consumption increase at national level.