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A new regulation of the energy and gas price would mean a violation of European legislation and would lead to a direct conviction of Romania at the European Court of Justice, said on Tuesday, Claudiu Dumbraveanu, General manager of the energy market and prices directorate within the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE).
"All household consumers will benefit from this ordinance on offsetting bills, but the offset scheme should not be for everyone. I, for example, do not need to be supported. Vulnerable consumers should be identified," he told the conference titled "Energy Crisis - Solutions to the Problems of the Moment," organized by DC News.
In his view, this ordinance suspends the retail market and discourages consumers from changing their supplier.
"It also discourages suppliers from managing their procurement and optimizing their operating costs, discourages efficient consumption, and ultimately consumers must participate in this market. Prolonged support of bills from the state budget will create the illusion of low prices and will lead to the allocation to consumption of some state resources that should be used for development," maintained Dumbrveanu.
He believes that a strategy should be adopted during this period, in which consumer support measures are implemented from the state budget.
Asked what the state should do after March 31, he replied: "I have some ideas about what should not be done. It is a personal opinion and I have arguments. In my opinion, we should not move to regulated prices under any circumstances. Regulated prices stand for a socialist market model, which worked very well when all markets were regulated. When the rest of the markets are free, having a regulated energy market is anachronistic, it is deeply illegal and profoundly violates European law and the free movement of goods, because barriers are being created", Agerpres informs.
