Romania today has a system that has learned to make money from rising energy prices at the expense of the population, despite being a country with cheap hydroelectric power, stable nuclear energy, domestic gas, and expanding renewables, according to Dumitru Chisăliță, president of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI), in an analysis published Tuesday.
„Romania not only has the most expensive electricity relative to purchasing power, but it also has a system that has learned to profit from rising energy prices at the expense of its population. Romania is currently experiencing one of the most absurd economic paradoxes in Europe. A country with cheap hydropower, stable nuclear energy, domestic gas, and expanding renewables has ended up with one of the most burdensome energy bills relative to purchasing power. The official explanation is repeated obsessively: ‘energy crisis,’ ‘war,’ ‘European markets,’ ‘volatility.’ All are real. But all are also insufficient explanations and merely propaganda to ‘deceive’ the population.”this is what the specialist believes, according to Agerpres.
In Chisăliță's opinion, although other states have also gone through the same crisis, they have not turned energy into a permanent source of economic and social tension, whereas „Romania has done exactly that.”.
„The issue is no longer strictly the cost of energy production. The issue is the cost of the energy system itself—a mechanism that introduces risk, inefficiency, distortions, and administrative costs at every link between the producer and the consumer. If Romania were to function as a normal energy market—competitive, predictable, and consistently regulated—the final bill would be 25–45% lower. Not just a little lower, but radically lower. If we take a functional European energy system as a benchmark—with stable rules, efficient costs, and real competition—the comparison becomes uncomfortable (…) almost every link in the Romanian energy system costs more than it should in a functional economy. Not because Romania has poor resources. But because it has built an expensive system” mentions the head of AEI.
The expert explained that out of every 100 lei on the bill, between 25 and 45 lei represent the cost of malfunction, and in years of crisis, almost half of the bill became an additional systemic cost.
„This is the great truth that public discourse avoids: Romanians don't just pay for energy. They pay for the system's instability. Romania produces relatively cheaply and sells relatively expensively. This is where the biggest economic contradiction arises. Romania has: low-cost hydropower; nuclear, among the cheapest stable sources; domestic gas; renewables with almost zero marginal cost after amortization. Theoretically, all of this should make Romania one of the most competitive energy markets in the region. In practice, however, the end consumer pays for regional volatility, the European marginalist mechanism, the lack of stable contracts, low liquidity, regulatory risk, and market concentration.” notes Dumitru Chisăliță.
According to him, Romania no longer has a genuine free market, nor a coherent regulated system, given that after 2022, the Romanian energy market entered an almost permanent cycle of price caps, compensations, excess taxes, special contributions, administrative interventions, and successive legislative changes.
„The real problem isn’t that the government intervened. The problem is that it intervened constantly, unpredictably, and inconsistently. Romania no longer has either a genuine free market or a coherent regulatory system. It has a hybrid that socializes costs and privatizes volatility. Of the 45% extra paid by the consumer, how much is due to incompetence and how much is rent? This is the question that almost no one wants to ask publicly (…) The uncomfortable answer is that both components are significant. But not in equal proportions. In other words, Romania isn’t just paying for the cost of energy. It’s also paying for the cost of an ecosystem that has learned to make money from instability”, emphasizes the cited source.
The AEI President also believes that the real problem behind the high energy bill is that certain blockages have become convenient, and „perhaps the most toxic area is that of chronic blockages” – delayed projects, postponed investments, insufficient capacities, limited interconnections, and excessive bureaucracy.
„Herein lies the real drama of the Romanian energy market: not only is the system inefficient, but certain forms of inefficiency have become profitable for the „smart guys.” And when a system starts making money from its own blockages, reform becomes not only difficult but contrary to the interests of those who control the game.”warns the specialist.