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Deputy Prime Minister Kelemen Hunor, president of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), says that a decision must be made as soon as possible regarding a new energy price compensation system, advocating for a regulated market and for price compensation at producers, and not at suppliers, as is currently the case.
Kelemen stated, on Europa FM, that since the beginning of the year the UDMR has said that Romania must return to a regulated market, something supported even by the representatives of the suppliers, but there was no consensus in the coalition and he considers that a decision should have been made in this sense.
According to him, the country's total energy consumption, with 2021 as the reference year, is 57.37 terawatts and Romania produces approximately 54 terawatts and the difference must be bought on the free market, in the sense that it is a semi-regulated market, since the state cannot intervene.
He also referred to Prime Minister Ciuca's proposal, which aims at a semi-regulated market, which means that not all the electricity produced on the OPCOM market is sold, but only 80%, as there are still signed contracts and the difference must be bought from the foreign market.
"This means that, indeed, a significant amount, but not very large, especially compared to other states, must be bought on the free market, which you cannot regulate, how it is sold on a foreign exchange and especially if you have to buy from one day to the next, where prices are very volatile. And then for sure we are in a semi-regulated or partially regulated situation, but we have to make the decision", the deputy prime minister pointed out.
He drew attention to the fact that, through the compensation mechanism for suppliers, they have a cash problem and there is a risk that a large supplier will go bankrupt or unable to pay and will not have anyone to take over a large number of consumers.
"We have to simplify this compensation procedure, and it is much easier to compensate at the producer than at the supplier, because there you have a large amount, a global amount, and you can settle there, in that area," said Kelemen.
He mentioned that, three weeks ago, energy watchdog ANRE was asked to come up with proposals and the solution regarding compensation on the regulated market was presented, and last week, the presidents of the three parties in the coalition had a discussion on this subject and now everyone must to analyze and communicate which variant he supports.
"As far as we are concerned, we support this option of compensation to the producer, and not to the supplier, on each invoice, because it is much simpler. And, thank God, at this moment, we produce more than 90% of the domestic needs, both for households, as well as for non-households, out of 57 terawatts, 54 are produced by Romania", emphasized Kelemen.
The deputy prime minister pointed out that this new compensation system is expected to enter into force on January 1st and it is important that the decision be made as soon as possible so that everyone has time to prepare. AGERPRES
