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Prime Minister Viorica Dancila has approved the setting up of an inter-ministerial committee to deal with legislation to help vulnerable energy consumers, Florin Ciocanelea, energy advisor to the prime minister told a specialist conference on Tuesday.
"The prime minister has approved the establishment of an inter-ministerial committee that will continue to develop and finalise legislation for the vulnerable consumer over the next two or three months, which I believe will be welcome by many market players, including the economy," Ciocanelea told the opening of the conference.
The Romanian government has been talking for many years how to define the vulnerable consumer of electricity and natural gas, which should be helped through specific mechanisms. At present, all household consumers in Romania can pay regulated prices.
In mid-May, Zoltan Nagy-Bege, deputy chairman of the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), said that European Commission representatives did not agree on gas prices being capped for all consumers, just for vulnerable consumers.
The Government capped the price of domestic production for domestic consumers in December 2018, which led to the start of an infringement procedure by the European Commission in March.
The Commission said Romania should identify measures to protect vulnerable consumers, calling important wholesale market mechanisms that ANRE worked on in 2018 and is currently working on.
On the electricity market, consumers on low incomes can use social tariffs, but only for a small portion, with the surplus billed at double the standard price.
AGERPRES
