The message about the extension of the gas price cap scheme is not the right one, as this means Romania will certainly enter an infringement procedure, said Volker Raffel, CEO of E.ON Romania, according to Agerpres.
”I don't know if the message that the (capping) scheme will be prolonged is a very appropriate message, because that means that Romania is definitely going into infringement. In the economic situation we are in, where economic growth is based on European funds, I don't think this is the right way forward. The second thing is that if people are paying less for gas, it means that the state should increase taxes, and increased taxes is something that nobody really wants (...) If you want to go to a free market, you have to be prepared for something. That's why I asked a year ago and two years ago and three years ago: make a strategy for entering a functioning and liquid market. Unfortunately, I have to note that neither from the authorities, especially in our sector, for example ANRE, or from the state, from the ministry, is there a plan with concrete steps, concrete, how to get to a ready market. I think that, in the medium and long term, it is certainly better for Romania if there is a price on a functioning market which also allows for investment in the future, because we always have the problem that if we go for the cheap, in the medium term we will not be able to make investments. An example is the heating system in Bucharest, where almost 401TPTP3T of thermal energy is lost, according to official figures”said the head of E.ON Romania.
In his opinion, if the gas price cap scheme is prolonged, however, further work needs to be done to „prepare a functioning and free market”.
„We are not afraid of any competition, because we are sportsmen and we do ask for competitions. I can see, even in the hot competition last year, with the new guys, on electricity, we didn't lose customers. We lost some customers and we gained other customers and then we were able to stay in the competition. We have 1.2 million million customers, maintenance solutions, thermal power plants. We sold several thousand photovoltaic panels, several thousand heat pumps, several thousand air conditioners and so on. I am convinced that this is also an advantage in the competition, that the market offers solutions, which are really wanted by consumers. As far as the natural gas market is concerned, I hope we will find out in the coming days what the plan is, because now, a week ago we all thought that we would have a free market, but probably not. My message is that, even if it (the cap scheme, editor's note) were to be extended for another year, that does not mean that we should continue to sit for a year in preparing a functioning and free market, but that we should work on it”said Volker Raffel.