28.10.2021

ROMANIA HAS ADOPTED PRICE CONTROLS FOR ELECTRICITY

Yesterday, the Romanian parliament passed a bill that would set a ceiling on electricity and natural gas prices and compensate bills. The measures will be implemented from November 1, after the president promulgates the law, Digi 24 TV reported, quoted by BTA.

In addition to household consumers, ceiling prices will apply to hospitals, educational institutions and kindergartens and nurseries - both public and private, as well as non-governmental organizations, providers of social services in the private and public spheres and religious institutions.

Also, the value added tax for energy and gas supplied by economic operators to end users will be reduced from 19 to 5 percent.

Thus, the prices will have a ceiling of at most RON one per kilowatt-hour for electricity and at most 0.37 RON per kilowatt-hour for natural gas. The bills will be offset by a maximum of 0.291 RON per kilowatt-hour for electricity and a maximum of 33 percent of the value of the natural gas price component.

The government estimates that six million families in Romania will benefit from these reductions, which will appear directly on invoices without people having to take any steps.

In the specialized commissions the deputies decided in the period November 1, 2021 - March 31, 2022 the government to allocate to the budgets of the administrative-territorial units a subvention to cover the increase in the price of gigacalories worth 50 percent of the difference between the purchase price of natural gas and the price with a ceiling of 0.250 RON per kilowatt-hour.

The law also gives vulnerable consumers the right to defer payment of their bills for a period of one to six months at no additional cost.