Connection to electricity and gas grids will no longer be free for everyone, as the avalanche of new connections demand has caused a backlog.
The authorities are therefore thinking of eliminating, for some consumers, the “free” connection, even if the new law has just entered into force, writes HotNews. Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said that the changes will be made in Parliament and aims to give up the so-called gratuity for industrial consumers. For the household consumers, it would remain free, but only within an energy consumption limit. Anything above that limit will be charged, according to HotNews.
What caused the backlog? Immediately after the entry into force of the new legislation that provides for free connection for any consumer, whether domestic or industrial, electricity and gas distributors found themselves assailed by demands they can not honor, especially that the costs of connections, according to the new law, would have to be borne initially by the providers.
According to the new legislation which entered into force at the beginning of this year, the financing of the connection works is provided for by the distributors, and subsequently, the costs are recognized in the invoices paid by all consumers. In other words, the cost of connecting to the gas network a consumer living atop a mountain will be born by all of us, collectively, via higher future tariffs. We would also pay for a company that wants to connect its buildings to electricity or natural gas. In addition, this measure is also discriminatory against the person who, until last year, had to pay for their own connection; not only did they pay for their own connection, but now they would have to bear the costs for the connection of the others.
However, until we get to see the higher electricity and gas bills, the providers have to finance, in the first phase, the cost of the new connection requests. As these distribution companies argue that they cannot meet the avalanche of new requests and that they do not have enough money to finance them, this has lead to backlogs and complete blockages.
Translated from Romanian by Service For Life S.R.L.