ACUE: Keeping the electricity price settlement cap delays market recovery, to the detriment of customers

The ACUE Federation is deeply concerned about the decision to maintain the ceiling for the cost of suppliers with the purchase of electricity. Ever since the establishment of this ceiling, ACUE has warned that the decision does not comply with the provisions of the Constitution and European regulations transposed into national legislation.

Moreover, setting a purchase value in a non-transparent way will have the immediate effect of reducing electricity transactions in the medium term. The measure unnecessarily makes the market and security of supply vulnerable and will delay the return of the local market to the best and most competitive conditions for customers.

ACUE proposed to the decision-makers the elimination of the settlement ceiling and the realization by ANRE of a transparent formula for calculating the reference price, based on existing contracts, the allocated quantities, and the average price on the spot market, as a viable solution that expresses the reality of the market, is predictable and transparent for suppliers and customers.

“This decision is totally inappropriate for consumers. Establishing an average purchase price without a transparent calculation formula, which ensures a correct way of evaluating the real costs and, implicitly, the evolution of the energy market, will have the immediate impact of reducing energy transactions in the medium term, long-term. The suppliers are in a position to limit their transactions, there is a risk that in the future the Government/Parliament will come back with a price set in a non-transparent and unsustainable manner, and the purchases made will default to losses. In this context, the de facto measure makes customers vulnerable by negatively affecting the supply of secure energy at the best possible prices. The best solution is a transparent calculation formula that correctly reflects market developments,” points out Daniela Dărăban, Executive Director of ACUE, a federation that represents large energy suppliers with a portfolio of approximately 9 million customers.

The Parliament’s decision discourages the conclusion of long-term contracts – the allocations established through the MACE mechanism, through which suppliers can purchase electricity at the price of 450 lei/kWh, do not cover all the needs for consumers. The suppliers have to buy the rest of the energy from the market to cover the demand of the customers. Given the possibility that the price may vary above the new cap at settlement, it means that suppliers must once again take losses.

ACUE members believe that the establishment of a fixed purchase price, which is not based on a transparent and dynamic formula depending on market evolution, represents an additional risk for the supply sector, still destabilized by the debt of over 3 billion lei to be recovered from at the state, only based on the data centralized until now and communicated by ANRE to the two responsible ministries.