Last week, energy minister Razvan Nicolescu stated that the government will suspend the household gas price liberalization for household consumers for an undetermined period and will extend by minimum two years and a half the gas market deregulation for companies.
Under a deregulation scheme agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, Romania has pledged to deregulate gas and electricity prices and align them to European levels by 2018.
Energy Department had previously proposed the European Commission the postponing of the household gas price liberalization by two years and a half and the maintaining, by minimum July 1, 2016, of the current price of natural gas locally produced.
Early September, the Energy Department said that, following disagreements with the European Commission’s enterprise directorate-general (DG Enterprise), on the right of household consumers to be considered a priority, Romania will not follow its deregulation calendar until an agreement with DG Enterprise; thus, Romania will postpone the price hike for household gas set for October 1.
Nicolescu said in August that DG Enterprise wants Romania to eliminate a legislative provision forcing local natural gas producers to consider household consumers a priority.
Romania consumes an annual 12.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas and produces about 11 billion cubic meters. The difference is imported from Russia, via intermediaries, at much higher prices than those of the local output.
Around 60% of gas consumers are part of the deregulated market, while 24% are household consumers. The remaining 16% are non-household consumers that buy gas at regulated prices.