A medium-sized commercial consumer in Bucharest, connected to the distribution network managed by Italy’s Enel, has to go through nine procedures and may wait as long as 174 days to get electricity. This puts Romania on the 154th place out of 190 economies analyzed by World Bank for ease of doing business.
The Doing Business report has become a reference for the quality of the business environment in a specific country, and the World Bank analyzes a number of things such as ease of starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, getting credit, paying taxes and resolving insolvency.
Access to electricity is essential to any business, which is why the World Bank includes it in its survey.
Out of 190 economies analyzed, Romania ranked 52nd this year, behind Czech Republic and Moldova, but ahead of Hungary and Bulgaria.
Looking at electricity only, Romania ranks behind all the above-mentioned countries.
It takes only three procedures and 60 days for a small consumer to get electricity in Prague, Czech Republic. A commercial consumer in Chisinau has to go through six procedures that take a total of 87 days to get electricity. In Bulgaria, even though the waiting period is longer than in Romania, the number of procedures is lower, which puts the former ahead of the latter in the ranking.
Once the small business finally got electricity, it has to deal with other issues.
Romania ranks last in the EU in terms of reliability of supply due to it having the highest rate of unplanned outages.
Things might get even worse, as the league of distribution companies, which includes Electrica, Enel (Italy), CEZ (Czech Republic) and E.ON (Germany) warn that investments could drop, following Romania’s energy market regulator ANRE cut of the rate of return regulation, which influences the profitability of the companies in this business.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)