Ministry of Energy aims to cut costs by one billion RON in 2025

The reorganization at the level of the Ministry of Energy and the companies in the portfolio will bring savings of at least one billion RON in 2025, according to Minister Sebastian Burduja.

“A pillar that is fundamental for the government program is called reform, the reform of the energy sector and, in fact, the reform of the Ministry of Energy and the reform of companies in the energy sector. We all note that Romania is in a delicate situation from the perspective of fiscal-budgetary balance and I think it is a matter of responsibility, of common sense to set an example for other ministries and other public institutions, and other state-owned companies, by taking some measures,” said Burduja.

He announced that in the coming period, a project to reorganize the ministry will be initiated, which will reduce the staffing scheme, by organizing competitions, so that “those who deserve to stay” will remain.

“This means, we estimate, an elimination of vacancies and a reduction in occupied positions by up to 20%. Of course, depending on the specifics of each structure, because, if we take the Investment Directorate, where we have about 100 colleagues, they managed to attract somewhere around 14 billion euros, so they have good productivity. It does not mean that there is no room for improvement there as well. But, discussing with the directors, we gave them this task to streamline the ministry’s activity. (…) At the Ministry of Energy we have 80 vacancies, they will disappear, and of the occupied positions, I was telling you, we are about 280 in the ministry, I expect that between 10 and 20% of colleagues will no longer be colleagues. Basically, the only way is to reduce your organizational chart in terms of the number of positions, which determines the launch of competitions for the ministry’s personnel. This will happen after the approval of the new organizational chart, after the approval of the reorganization decision, in the first part of this year,” explained the Energy Minister.

Also, according to the minister, spending on goods and services must be reduced. A preliminary statistic was made, and companies were asked to come up with a reduction plan by January 23, and the revenue and expenditure budgets for this year will not be approved unless they comply with these reform principles.

“So, whether they like it or not, they will have to take such measures. Stopping hiring within companies, subsidiaries, with strict exceptions. Of course, if an operator leaves a control room, he must be replaced. But in general, we do not want to allow countless hirings and spending or wasting public money. Reducing salary expenses, especially with TESA personnel. We have found that in several companies there are too many people in offices, and there are too few people in execution, productive personnel. This also happens in mining; it also happens in other companies in the energy sector. In general, these positions have been filled by both trained people and people who have no business there and were looking for a comfortable place to stay on a good salary. Those who do not deliver must go home and deliver in the private sector, in private companies, there is a demand for labor,” emphasized Sebastian Burduja.

Another measure considered is to reduce protocol and sponsorship expenses by at least 50 percent, because there are companies from the Ministry of Energy that spend millions of lei every year on all kinds of sponsorships and protocol expenses, the minister noted.