ACUE asks the Government to respect its obligations towards energy consumers

• The government limits the payment of compensation schemes for electricity and gas customers, through a draft Emergency Ordinance
• The proposed measure will block, practically, the entire energy chain, by incapacitating the purchase of energy and payments along the entire chain: from the producer, transporter, to the distributor and the state budget

The new draft of Emergency Ordinance on the limitation of budget expenditures introduces, through Article XIV, measures to limit payments for consumer compensation schemes and seriously destabilizes the ability of suppliers to ensure the purchase of energy and, implicitly, the continuity of the safe supply of electricity and gas of households and companies, on the eve of winter.

Suppliers have met their regulatory obligations, applied the capped energy price and pre-financed the cost difference. ACUE requests the authorities to keep their promises to energy consumers and to fulfill their part of the obligation to which they committed themselves through their own regulations, respectively to settle the amounts due for compensation to customers, within the legal term.

The ACUE Federation asked the Government to remove Article XIV from the mentioned GEO draft and an urgent discussion to identify solutions that would not jeopardize the supply of electricity and natural gas on the eve of winter.

“By the proposed article, the Government limits, in fact, the application of price reductions to the final customer. The necessary money is promised by the state to energy customers to cover the price difference, between the actual price and the capped price, it is not for suppliers. Suppliers are used as intermediaries for the pre-financing of these support schemes. If it can no longer support the price ceilings, the state must find alternative solutions. Suppliers have expressed their willingness to participate in a real discussion with the relevant decision makers. We appreciate the understanding shown by the colleagues in the plenary session of the Economic and Social Council and the openness to dialogue of the representatives of the Ministry of Energy,” – Daniela Dărăban, Executive Director of ACUE .

“We reiterate the fact that the proposed measure to limit payments for customer compensation schemes seriously destabilizes the ability of suppliers to ensure the purchase of energy and, from a legal point of view, represents a violation of national legislation and European regulations,” reads the ACUE official statement.