Sursa foto: Pixabay
The government wants to allocate 4 billion lei next year to compensate and cap energy bills for domestic and industrial consumers, and the amount will be provided in the draft budget, government sources said Tuesday, quoted by Agerpres.
“The amount needed to compensate the gas and electricity bills of Romanian consumers next year is 4 billion lei and it will be provided for in the draft budget currently being worked on,” the sources said.
According to Law 259/2021 on the capping and compensation of energy bills, the price of energy is capped at a maximum of one leu between 1 November and 31 March 2022, plus a compensation of 0.29 lei for those consuming up to 300 kWh, plus a 10% margin for household consumers.
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On gas, the compensation will be 33% of the gas-fuel price on the bill, and the price has been capped at 0.25 lei per kWh.
For non-household customers such as SMEs, micro-enterprises, small businesses, private practices, liberal professions, for electricity, the final price will be reduced by the regulated tariffs for transmission, system service, distribution, green certificates and cogeneration contribution from 1 November to 31 March. For gas, non-cash customers do not pay transmission and distribution tariffs and excise duty.
For public institution customers, such as hospitals, educational establishments, nurseries, NGOs, social service providers and churches, prices are capped at the same level as for households, but no compensation is granted.
The reduction will be applied directly to the bill and energy suppliers will then recover their money from the state.
Energy companies have expressed concern that the money will not be returned on time, creating problems in the market and even bankrupting some suppliers.
The Federation of Energy Utilities Association believes that this settlement mechanism will lead to significant additional costs for energy suppliers and distributors.
In response, Energy Minister Virgil Popescu has assured companies that they will receive their money on time, i.e. within 30 days of invoices being issued.
In mid-November, Dan Vîlceanu, then acting finance minister, said that 3 billion lei was needed to cover the budgetary impact of the energy price cap and bill compensation.