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 Chis\u0103li\u021b\u0103, president of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI), in an analysis published Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201eRomania 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: \u2018energy crisis,\u2019 \u2018war,\u2019 \u2018European markets,\u2019 \u2018volatility.\u2019 All are real. But all are also insufficient explanations and merely propaganda to \u2018deceive\u2019 the population.<\/em>\u201dthis is what the specialist believes, according to Agerpres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Chis\u0103li\u021b\u0103'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 \u201eRomania has done exactly that.\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201eThe issue is no longer strictly the cost of energy production. The issue is the cost of the energy system itself\u2014a 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\u2014competitive, predictable, and consistently regulated\u2014the final bill would be 25\u201345% lower. Not just a little lower, but radically lower. If we take a functional European energy system as a benchmark\u2014with stable rules, efficient costs, and real competition\u2014the comparison becomes uncomfortable (\u2026) 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<\/em>\u201d mentions the head of AEI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201eThis 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.<\/em>\u201d notes Dumitru Chis\u0103li\u021b\u0103.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201eThe real problem isn\u2019t 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 (\u2026) The uncomfortable answer is that both components are significant. But not in equal proportions. In other words, Romania isn\u2019t just paying for the cost of energy. It\u2019s also paying for the cost of an ecosystem that has learned to make money from instability<\/em>\u201d, emphasizes the cited source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AEI President also believes that the real problem behind the high energy bill is that certain blockages have become convenient, and \u201eperhaps the most toxic area is that of chronic blockages\u201d \u2013 delayed projects, postponed investments, insufficient capacities, limited interconnections, and excessive bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201eHerein 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 \u201esmart guys.\u201d 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.<\/em>\u201dwarns the specialist.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rom\u00e2nia are, ast\u0103zi, un sistem care a \u00eenv\u0103\u021bat s\u0103 c\u00e2\u0219tige bani din scumpirea energiei pe spatele popula\u021biei, \u00een condi\u021biile \u00een care este o \u021bar\u0103 cu hidroenergie ieftin\u0103, energie nuclear\u0103 stabil\u0103, gaze interne \u0219i regenerabile \u00een expansiune, sus\u021bine pre\u0219edintele Asocia\u021biei Energia Inteligent\u0103 (AEI), Dumitru Chis\u0103li\u021b\u0103, \u00eentr-o analiz\u0103 publicat\u0103 mar\u021bi. \u201eRom\u00e2nia nu are doar cea mai scump\u0103<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-energie"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t