Sursa foto: ACUE
The Competition Council analyzes the activity of connecting household customers to the electricity and natural gas distribution networks, in the context of changing the legislative framework and the liberalization process of the two markets for household consumers, Agerpres reports.
According to the new regulations, introduced in 2020, the electricity or natural gas distribution operator has the obligation to connect to the network all applicants for household customers, within 90 days from the date of obtaining the building permit, with the recovery of connection costs in a period of 5 years.
The National Authority for Energy Regulations (ANRE) modified the procedure regarding the investment plans of the distribution operators so as to ensure the capacity to satisfy reasonable long-term connection requests, without affecting the investments aiming at the operational safety of the distribution systems.
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“By adopting these legislative changes, the aim is to boost the process of connecting household consumers to the electricity and natural gas distribution networks. Under these conditions, the constant increase in the number of places of consumption will determine the expansion of the markets for electricity and natural gas supply to domestic consumers, leading to both the growth of the portfolio of existing suppliers and the emergence of new suppliers on the market. in a statement from the Competition Council.
The Competition Council (CC) draws attention to the fact that possible syncopes in the process of connecting household customers may affect the liberalization process by limiting the increase of market size, ultimately leading to restricted competition in the electricity or natural gas supply market to domestic customers.
According to the Competition Council, the national energy sector is one with a strong and visible impact both on the final household customer, who consumes electricity or natural gas to meet daily needs, and also on the entire Romanian economy.
Fines for energy companies
In recent years, the competition authority has applied several sanctions to companies operating in the market for gas or energy distribution services for infringing competition rules.
Thus, the company Distrigaz Sud Reţele SRL (DGSR) was fined 17.65 million lei (approximately 3.7 million euros), for abuse of a dominant position manifested by the practice of excessive tariffs, economically unjustified, for the technical approval of projects execution, reception, and commissioning of natural gas installations (IUGN).
The natural gas distributor Premier Energy SRL, as the legal successor of the company Gaz Sud SA was sanctioned with 6.3 million lei (approximately 1.3 million euros) because it abused its dominant position by imposing certain discriminatory tariffs for services for technical approval of projects, reception of works and commissioning of natural gas installations, differentiated according to the performer of design and execution of installations.
The natural gas distributor Wirom Gas SA together with nine companies executing natural gas installation works in the field were fined 920,069 lei for concluding an anti-competitive agreement by which they established a fixed price for the realization of natural gas installations.
Following the implementation of the commitments assumed by E-Distribuţie Muntenia SA (EDM) in the context of the investigation regarding a possible abuse of a dominant position, the average duration of obtaining the technical connection approvals (ATR) issued by the company decreased by 20%, given that the number of connection requests increased by 30%. Also, the intervention of the Competition Council has led to an increase in the transparency of the connection process and the general degree of information of users about the connection process, in the last year, the number of customers using the online connection service increasing by over 90%, shows in the quoted communiqué.
Translated from Romanian by Service For Life S.R.L.