Secretary of State in the Energy Ministry Doru Visan stated on Tuesday that temperatures this winter will be by one degree lower than during the previous winter, which was extremely hard on the energy sector, but the energy consumption will be fully covered for. Visan was present at the opening of the National Energy Fair, organized by the Romanian Electricity Suppliers Association (AFEER), where eight energy suppliers presented their offers for household consumers in the context of the total liberalization of the market from January 1, 2018.
Doru Visan specified in this context that some suppliers only maximised their profit last winter, endangering the safety of the energy system. The National Energy Dispatch Center is expecting a situation similar to the one last winter, when the electricity and natural gas consumption reached record levels as a result of extremely low temperatures (below 15-20 Celsius degrees), recorded for a 7 to 10-day interval, according to the project on The Energy Programme for the 2017-2018 winter, devised by the Energy Minsitry.
Last winter, the country's electricity and natural gas consumption reached historical records, after temperatures plummeted early January and frost kept for several weeks, with frequent temperatures of minus 15-20 Celsius degrees. Also from January to February, the energy price doubled on the stock exchange, which eventually led to a rise in the price of electricity by 8 percent from July 1, 2017.