Ivan, after six months at the Ministry of Energy: We have avoided a disaster for the economy

The Energy Minister said he took office at a difficult time, with major pressures on the electricity market and negative prospects for the end of 2025, in the context of price liberalization and lack of production capacity.

Bogdan Ivan explained that the liberalization of the electricity market, the removal of the cap on July 1, the situation of coal-fired power plants, and the production deficit risked keeping prices high for consumers.

„The liberalization of electricity prices and the elimination of the cap on July 1, the coal-fired power plants that are not to be closed at the end of this year, plus their lack of production capacity, are not factors that will lower energy prices.”

The minister argued that, six months after taking office, the market offers more options below the levels recorded at the beginning of the summer and encouraged consumers to switch suppliers to reduce their bills.

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„When people started paying 1.50 lei, 1.55 lei, 1.60 lei per kWh consumed in our country, today, six months into my term, you have seven offers below 1.30 lei, offers at 1.99 lei, at 1.60 lei. I really urge you to take a look at the price comparison tool. You can reduce your bills by switching to any of these suppliers with a better offer, free of charge.”

Postponing the closure of coal-fired power plants was one of the most important decisions

Ivan also said that one of the most important decisions of his term was to postpone the closure of coal-fired power plants, a negotiation which, in his opinion, avoided major costs for the state and additional price increases.

„If I had not succeeded in this negotiation, Romania would have had to pay either penalties of €1.8 billion or find itself in a situation where it would have to keep these power plants, but without the agreement of the European Commission, import more, and automatically increase energy payments by about 30% from January 1 next year. We have also avoided this disaster for the Romanian economy.”

The minister said he had identified bottlenecks in payments to beneficiaries and had accelerated internal procedures to increase the pace of settlements.

„Under the PNRR, we managed to increase payments to beneficiaries sixfold, from 90 million to 600 million, and in the case of the Modernization Fund, we increased the level of payments 22-fold, from less than 30 million to 700 million lei.”

The goal was to avoid rising natural gas prices during the winter season

Regarding natural gas, the minister said that his goal was to avoid price increases during the cold season and to maintain similar tariffs after the cap was removed.

„I made sure back in July that we would not have a price increase for natural gas this winter and that we would have enough natural gas. My goal is that on March 31, when the price cap on natural gas is removed, Romanians will be able to pay the same prices that are on the market today.”

The Minister of Energy also pointed out that new production and storage capacities have been put into operation this year and that there is a clear timetable for the coming years, with the aim of reducing prices in the medium and long term.

„This year, Romania has installed approximately 1,800 MW of electricity production capacity and approximately 400 MW of storage capacity. For next year, we are adding another 2,000 MW of electricity production capacity, and by 2029 we will reach 5,000 MW of storage capacity.”