AFEER: “We make every effort to ensure that substantial increases in energy prices are felt as little as possible by final consumers”

Electricity suppliers announce that they will make a sustained effort to ensure that substantial increases in wholesale market prices are felt as little as possible by final consumers.

“We are going through a difficult period, with turbulence, unpredictability and many changes, which create a state of discomfort among operators and consumers. We have entered a spiral of general price growth in all sectors of the economy, with a direct impact on consumers. The current situation on the energy market is more complicated: the prices of fuels – coal, natural gas, oil – have increased in all markets, European and international. In addition, due to the EU’s clear commitment to decarbonisation, the price of emission allowances has reached unexpected values, around 50 euro / tonne (compared to a price of 21 euro / tonne in June 2020), and for the future , an upward trend is also estimated. These days, we see that there are historical maximums at the price of energy traded on the spot market (it reached 1000 lei / MWh!) And records for energy consumption, amid the heat wave and disconnection of a reactor at Cernavoda. In this context, it is necessary to present the situation correctly in the public space, not unjustifiably suppliers being the main culprits for price increases. The truth is that, in the context of the explosion of trading prices on the wholesale energy market, suppliers come, responsibly, as is natural, to support customers with solutions to maintain a balance in bills and in relation to them,” says Ion Lungu, AFEER Executive Director.

Supply prices are strongly influenced by the price of energy traded on futures markets managed by OPCOM, with delivery in the following year, which increased by more than 50%. Also, on the Market for the Next Day, the traded energy prices are 150% higher, compared to the same period in 2020, says Cristian Culea, member of the AFEER Steering Committee.

With regard to balancing market prices which determine the cost of consumer portfolio imbalances, legislative changes at the beginning of the year (introduction of 15-minute settlement, single imbalance price) have led to unpredictability and cost increases (a peak of 2500 lei / MWh!) for suppliers, states Culea.