ANRE’s Havrilet: Romania does not have enough capacity for energy production. A new EU infringement procedure could be filed

Romania does not have enough electricity production capacities, so that when consumption increases, there are problems with ensuring the supply and security of the national energy system, Niculae Havrilet, President of the National Authority for Energy Regulation (ANRE), stated on Thursday at the hearings of the commission established to investigate the activity of the Authority.

He was asked by the President of the Committee for Industries of the Chamber of Deputies, Iulian Iancu, what is ANRE’s position on the electricity and gas price increases this year.

“It is the first year when we have a total liberalised market for gas and 90 percent of electricity. So practically 2017 is the year when Romania liberalised the gas and electricity market,” Havrilet said. Accordind to him, if the liberalisation had not taken place, the prices would have risen even more, up to RON 78 per MWh.

He argued that this year there have been two major elements, which have a common characteristic, namely a peak of electricity consumption, in a time of turmoil in the climate.

He added that there was a similar situation in July when it was a very high demand for electricity, this time amid extremely high temperatures. All this is corroborated with a dry summer and the lack of wind, so a small hydro and wind energy production. So more energy in the summer has been produced on coal, which is expensive.

Also, Havrilet said that there were problems with one of the two reactors at Cernavoda throughout the year, which again led to a reduction in the supply of energy in the market.

ANRE official pointed out that the European Commission has sent to the Romanian authorities a letter warning that a new stage may be taken in the infringement procedure initiated against Romania for blocking gas exports if Parliament approves the obligation for 70 percent of gas to be traded on the stock exchange