ACUE said in a statement that not only did companies in the natural gas and electricity distribution sector fulfil the investment obligations undertaken through the privatization contracts signed in 2005 with the Romanian state, but they “did a lot more than that.”
ACUE was set up in 2012 and includes E.ON Romania, GDF Suez Energy Romania, Distrigaz Sud Retele, ENEL Romania, CEZ Romania, Electrica SA, Electrica Furnizare, CONGAZ, WIEE, WIROM GAS and GAZ EST. Many of these companies entered the Romanian natural gas and electricity distribution market following the privatization of several companies owned by the Romanian state.
ACUE also said the investments in network upgrades and modernization made by ENEL Distributie Muntenia Sud, ENEL Distributie Banat, ENEL Distributie Dobrogea, E.ON Distributie Moldova, CEZ Distributie, GDF Suez Energy Romania and E.ON Gaz Distributie totaled nearly RON6 billion, which means that these companies exceeded by some RON2.1 billion the obligations undertaken through privatization contracts.
In 2014, a vice-president of Romania’s energy regulator ANRE said the regulator is “extremely concerned” about the way electricity distributors observe the regulations considering that it received more and more notifications of “abusive behavior.” He also said at the time that ANRE wants the price of distributed electricity to be “fair”, set based on correct and justified bases.
Early 2015, ACUE was displeased with an order of ANRE reducing the rate of return (ROR) for electricity distributors to 7.7% from 8.5%, arguing the measure will significantly impact the investment strategies the ACUE member companies.
ACUE member companies employ over 20,000 people and have an overall annual turnover of over EUR4 billion.