Romania Energy Center | Energy News Romania

16Aug 2026

Digi24

Reduction of excise duty on diesel fuel by 20% between August 16-31. My recommendation for drivers: take advantage of this temporary relaxation of the price at the pump, because no one can guarantee what will happen after the end of August. Where do the price increases come from? ... Certainly not from the international quotation of crude oil, where in the first part of August the barrel was around 79-88 dollars. The real problem comes from the refined products market, where Romania is dependent on diesel imports. And the critical factor is what is happening in the Russian Federation: the accelerated loss of refining capacity has transformed an energy giant (which exports fuel) into an actor that suddenly goes shopping abroad itself. Thus, Russia is looking to buy the same diesel that we are trying to buy. Related to the differences between gas stations: the 20% reduction in excise duty (ie -68 money per liter) brought the prices to around 10 lei. The fact that at some stations we see 9.99 lei is just marketing - a penny less does not change the fact that you still pay 10 lei per liter. There are also gas stations that cut less, such as the case of Lukoil (where the liter is 10.35 lei). The explanation has to do with logistics: with its own refinery in Romania shut down, the company has considerably higher transport and import costs because it brings fuel from abroad. The structural problem remains, however, the huge fiscal burden of the Romanian state. It is not normal for Romania to have more expensive fuels than Bulgaria, Hungary or Poland. When you fill up 60 liters and pay 600 lei at the pump, almost 300 lei go directly to the state's accounts. It is enormous and completely inappropriate for an economy like ours. My intervention on Sunday, August 16 at Digi24

15Aug 2026

Antena 3

There is a tendency to blame the traders during this period. In this sense, I don't think that the hosts of the show "extracted" from me what they wanted this time, namely: a condemnation of the companies importing electricity from Bulgaria and a labeling as if they were the new "smart guys". I can say what the technical and commercial reality of imports entails, that is, the mechanics of trading. Bringing energy from outside is not a simple business. First of all, there is a clear distinction between the supplier (who sells directly to the final consumer) and the trader (who operates exclusively on the wholesale market and the import-export area). To transfer energy from Bulgaria to Romania, a company must hold a trading license from both ANRE and the Bulgarian ANRE (which is called the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission). It must be registered simultaneously on the Romanian stock exchange (OPCOM) and on the Bulgarian stock exchange (IBEX). In addition, the allocation of cross-border capacities is done through a dedicated European platform (Joint Allocation Office, JAO). Beyond the procedures and regulations, the entry barriers are very high. You must prove that you have financial credit, provide consistent bank guarantees, pay licensing fees and annual contributions to the regulator. Not everyone can afford such financial costs. The fact that such a company operates with a small number of people (1-3 employees) is not a conspiracy. The contemporary trading of goods and energy is a highly digitized activity, based on electronic platforms, not on dense personnel schemes. What are the private companies that ensure imports to blame for the fact that the Romanian state did not complete its gas plants on time, did not unclog the Bala branch on the Danube and ignored investments in storage batteries for years in a row? Trading companies do not create the crisis in the system. They respond to a massive deficit generated by our lack of internal production. When you have an energy gap in the network, someone has to bring electricity from across the border. The high price in the market and dependence on imports do not come from the bad will of the traders, but from the structural vulnerabilities created by our delayed decisions and investments not made on time. This does not exclude the obligation of the authorities to check the activity of traders and to penalize irregularities. My intervention on Saturday, August 15 at Antena 3

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There is a tendency to blame the traders during this period. In this sense, I don't think that the hosts of the show "extracted" from me what they wanted this time, namely: a condemnation of the companies importing electricity from Bulgaria and a labeling as if they were the new "smart guys". I can say what the technical and commercial reality of imports entails, that is, the mechanics of trading. Bringing energy from outside is not a simple business. First of all, there is a clear distinction between the supplier (who sells directly to the final consumer) and the trader (who operates exclusively on the wholesale market and the import-export area). To transfer energy from Bulgaria to Romania, a company must hold a trading license from both ANRE and the Bulgarian ANRE (which is called the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission). It must be registered simultaneously on the Romanian stock exchange (OPCOM) and on the Bulgarian stock exchange (IBEX). In addition, the allocation of cross-border capacities is done through a dedicated European platform (Joint Allocation Office, JAO). Beyond the procedures and regulations, the entry barriers are very high. You must prove that you have financial credit, provide consistent bank guarantees, pay licensing fees and annual contributions to the regulator. Not everyone can afford such financial costs. The fact that such a company operates with a small number of people (1-3 employees) is not a conspiracy. The contemporary trading of goods and energy is a highly digitized activity, based on electronic platforms, not on dense personnel schemes. What are the private companies that ensure imports to blame for the fact that the Romanian state did not complete its gas plants on time, did not unclog the Bala branch on the Danube and ignored investments in storage batteries for years in a row? Trading companies do not create the crisis in the system. They respond to a massive deficit generated by our lack of internal production. When you have an energy gap in the network, someone has to bring electricity from across the border. The high price in the market and dependence on imports do not come from the bad will of the traders, but from the structural vulnerabilities created by our delayed decisions and investments not made on time. This does not exclude the obligation of the authorities to check the activity of traders and to penalize irregularities. My intervention on Saturday, August 15 at Antena 3

13Aug 2026

Digi24

Beyond my personal enthusiasm for the phenomenon of prosumers in Romania, I have to make an addition. The amount of 680 MW (the equivalent of a Cernavoda reactor) that we observed injected into the transport network from the storage facilities in the evening of August 13 (when both nuclear reactors were shut down) cannot be attributed only to prosumers. Prosumers have their role and their exercise of solidarity was and is important because it reduces the consumption of the transport network. However, at the level of the transport network (which is handled by Transelectrica), there we rather see the effect of the companies' storage projects, that is, industrial storage. Both actors (both the small and the big) contribute essentially in this period. Our economic reality, since the last year, is dictated exclusively by macroeconomic arguments - reducing the budget deficit is the ultimate goal. However, keeping taxes high, for too long, means brutally ignoring the Laffer curve. If you press too hard on the tax pedal, you kill consumption and destroy your taxable base. Yes, in the first instance you will get an increase in the income of the state budget, but if you keep taxation high for too long, you will get the opposite effect: more and more companies will go bankrupt, no more investments will be made, consumption will decrease, evasion will increase, and active people will be able to move their tax residence to other countries (in the same Bulgaria, for example, where the income tax is 10% and the dividend tax is 5%). Tax increases are a double-edged sword and must be used carefully and sparingly, if you as a state want to have someone to tax. On the fuel front, we only have a temporary respite. The government decided to reduce the excise duty on diesel by 20% (much more useful than the initial percentage of 10%). The measure is welcome, even if it is timid. Fuel price increases in the near future will not come so much from what is happening in the Middle East as from Russia, as the events there can influence the regional diesel market. Ukrainian drone attacks have destroyed an important part of Russian refining capacity. The latest figures indicate an extremely high degree of destruction - up to 65-80% of the decommissioned refining capacity. When Russia (which faces its own shortage of diesel fuel in agriculture and transport) goes out to buy fuel on the global market, prices will rise for other buyers. My intervention at Digi24 on Thursday, August 13, at Jurnalul de Sără with Cosmin Prelipceanu.

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Beyond my personal enthusiasm for the phenomenon of prosumers in Romania, I have to make an addition. The amount of 680 MW (the equivalent of a Cernavoda reactor) that we observed injected into the transport network from the storage facilities in the evening of August 13 (when both nuclear reactors were shut down) cannot be attributed only to prosumers. Prosumers have their role and their exercise of solidarity was and is important because it reduces the consumption of the transport network. However, at the level of the transport network (which is handled by Transelectrica), there we rather see the effect of the companies' storage projects, that is, industrial storage. Both actors (both the small and the big) contribute essentially in this period. Our economic reality, since the last year, is dictated exclusively by macroeconomic arguments - reducing the budget deficit is the ultimate goal. However, keeping taxes high, for too long, means brutally ignoring the Laffer curve. If you press too hard on the tax pedal, you kill consumption and destroy your taxable base. Yes, in the first instance you will get an increase in the income of the state budget, but if you keep taxation high for too long, you will get the opposite effect: more and more companies will go bankrupt, no more investments will be made, consumption will decrease, evasion will increase, and active people will be able to move their tax residence to other countries (in the same Bulgaria, for example, where the income tax is 10% and the dividend tax is 5%). Tax increases are a double-edged sword and must be used carefully and sparingly, if you as a state want to have someone to tax. On the fuel front, we only have a temporary respite. The government decided to reduce the excise duty on diesel by 20% (much more useful than the initial percentage of 10%). The measure is welcome, even if it is timid. Fuel price increases in the near future will not come so much from what is happening in the Middle East as from Russia, as the events there can influence the regional diesel market. Ukrainian drone attacks have destroyed an important part of Russian refining capacity. The latest figures indicate an extremely high degree of destruction - up to 65-80% of the decommissioned refining capacity. When Russia (which faces its own shortage of diesel fuel in agriculture and transport) goes out to buy fuel on the global market, prices will rise for other buyers. My intervention at Digi24 on Thursday, August 13, at Jurnalul de Sără with Cosmin Prelipceanu.

13Aug 2026

Digi24

Regarding storage: the batteries don't last the day for nothing. At noon, when we have sun, the photovoltaic panels produce massively (they can reach 3,000 MW, that is, more than half of the country's electricity). Then the batteries are charged. In the evening, after 19:00, the batteries inject into the network and can inject up to 630 MW (almost as much as a nuclear reactor from Cernavoda!). What will we rely on during this period? On coal production (for energy in the strip): we have the three groups of 330 MW at work, plus group 4 from Rovinari (which will be removed from the reserve), which together amounts to about 1300 MW. To this capacity is added the energy from hydro (approximately 1000 MW) and gas plants, such as CETs and the OMV Petrom unit from Brazi (which alone has 860 MW) and renewable production. How do we get into the practice of peak consumption in the evening? The voluntary reduction works very well. The factories that scheduled their revisions in August, the domestic consumers who agreed to move the large household appliances outside the peak hours are already bringing a vital economy to the system (about 200-300 MW). In extremis, we can call on additional imports from the Bulgarians, and Hidroelectrica can add about 300 MW from the reservoirs (normally kept for the winter). Related to the list of uninterruptible industrial consumers: factories and plants don't stop all the time. The national energy dispatcher is exactly like an orchestra conductor. His technical task is to permanently keep production equal to consumption. This list just gives him an extra safety tool. Large consumers are not disconnected from the chaotic network, but their supply is interrupted (strictly temporarily!) only in critical situations and mandatory on the basis of a legal notice of 24 hours. My intervention on Thursday, August 13, at Digi24

13Aug 2026

TVR Info

A lot of people look at the Transelectrica graphs at lunch and jump to the conclusion that the storage facilities are idle because they show zero. It's not like that. At noon, when the solar panels or wind turbines produce massively, the batteries are charged, and in the evening the installations start injecting into the grid (even 500-600 MW at peak hours). Why are the neighbors doing better? The Bulgarians moved extremely skillfully to attract European funds and seriously invested in storage capacities. That's what they did and we didn't. Moreover, the Kozlodui plant has a separate water supply circuit for cooling the reactor (a 7 km artificial channel from the Danube to the plant + a back-up system with some closed-circuit reservoirs). Compared to us and the Hungarians, who take water directly from the Danube and depend on its flow, they avoided this vulnerability. Related to prosumers and financing programs: I had an obvious slip-up in the way the Casa Verde program was thought. Over 90% of the panels are on the roofs of the residential area, and the state pumped money exclusively into production, ignoring the storage component. The correction came much too late to be able to fix anything in the current crisis. Beyond this moment, it is a strategic error to model the drought and reactor shutdown as some very rare scenarios (once every 15-20 years). The speed with which the climate is changing forces us to take this risk into account much more than before, because we can hit it every 2-3 years or even annually. In 2 years we could easily recover the gap we have with Bulgaria. But other sources of energy should not be ignored. Geothermal in our country is at the bottom of the frog's leg (it barely appears with half a percent in the statistics), and biomass shyly brings only 60 MW into the system. My intervention on Thursday, August 13, at TVR News

12Aug 2026

Antena 3

Related to festivals, we have a problem with the coherence of public communication. You can't ask people to do laundry at lunch to save the system, while two steps away from the shut down reactor you're throwing a party with thousands of light bulbs. How to ask for economy and, at the same time, broadcast images of Cernavodă City Days or Untold on TV? The message sent to the people was contradictory. Like a wall nut. This needs to be worked on in the future. What happens to the invoices? When you suddenly lose a fifth of the national production (that is, the 1,400 MW from Cernavodă), there is inevitably a shock in the system. The energy bought urgently at high prices (imports) will be reflected in the calculation formula and we will feel it in the new contracts in the fall. Related to uninterruptible consumers: the national energy dispatcher is just like an orchestra conductor. His job is to constantly balance consumption with production. That list of large interruptible industrial consumers means an extra tool: certain industrial actors can be notified that their consumption can be reduced (temporarily!) to protect the network. Factories and factories do not stop. It is a possible temporary measure (limited in time) and only if the situation demands it. The population is protected. No one is left without electricity at home. Regarding storage, many people look at the Transelectrica data at lunchtime and see that the batteries are injecting zero. It's natural - at noon, the solar panels produce massively and the batteries absorb the energy. The utility of storage is only seen after 19:00, when the sun goes down and the batteries start discharging energy back into the grid. Beyond the current crisis, the underlying problem is a poorly managed energy transition. We understand perfectly why the Oltenia Energy Complex has been kept alive for so many years: there is a painful social dimension, people and whole communities who depended on these jobs and who did not benefit from professional reconversion. But from a strategic point of view, if all those huge sums from the state budget (used to buy emission certificates) were channeled to reactors 3 and 4 at Cernavodă, today we would have new capacity in the pipeline and no longer depend on external partners or electricity imports from neighbors. Wednesday, August 12, at Antena 3, before the closure of reactor 2

11Aug 2026

Digi24

The improvisation didn't work! Blasting the rock, sinking barges and dredging did not help us. Reactor 2 of the Cernavoda plant is to be shut down under control on Thursday, August 13. The temporary exit from the system of reactor 2 from Cernavoda (680 MW) will not be able to be fully compensated by the start-up of coal-fired group 4 from Rovinari (330 MW) removed from the technical reserve. It will help, but it will not completely compensate for the megawatts "lost" by closing unit 2 from Cer...navoda. The lesson from this crisis: Nuclearelectrica should focus on the main activity (core business), which is the operation of reactors 1 and 2. The company has messed up its priorities lately, financed too much the SMR from Doicesti and postponed essential works for the existing reactors. The order of priority should be: 1. Exploitation of units 1 and 2 (the only income-generating activity) 2. Construction of reactors 3 and 4 (where we are 19 years late!) 3. SMR - further, with partners with whom to share risks and costs, not to burden Nuclearelectrica even more. Very important: the government's call for rational consumption between 7-11 in the evening during this period does NOT mean absurd things. No one should ever unplug their refrigerator! - Tuesday, August 11, at Digi24

10Aug 2026

Other

Eugenia Gusilov at NewMoney.Talks: What conclusions can we draw from the current energy crisis. A talk about the delay in public investments in the energy field, about the public's reaction to the call to save energy, but also about the need for consumers to have their own energy sources. The conclusion is that we should no longer wait for the state to give us, but we should each concern ourselves with the necessary energy. A NewMoney.Talks podcast moderated by Constantin Rudnițchi.

9Aug 2026

B1

A longer discussion, with Ioana Stancel and Ciprian Necula, about energy, hybrid warfare, and what you need to have on hand in emergency situations. On my part, I pointed out: - the "deworming" action must not only target the networks, but the entire energy sector - I explained the reasons why the state, often, does not want to embrace too ambitious targets when it comes to reforms... - but I also emphasized that the authorities must re-earn the trust of the population, not just demand obedience. The state-citizen relationship must be repaired/rebuilt. - the authorities must be more flexible when there is an increased risk of losing European funds, you can ask the financier to redirect the unused funds to something else (batteries, for example) if you were not able to use the money for what it was originally allocated. B1.ro, Saturday, August 8

8Aug 2026

Antena 3

Yes, the Bulgarians make money from our stupidity! In case we end up in the situation of having to shut down reactor 2 at Cernavoda as well (an action that was pushed back another 9 days), it would help us if the new gas power plant at Mintia (Jordanian investment) could enter the system earlier, even if with less (1,000 MW) instead of 1,700 MW (the maximum power it was designed for). August 8, at Antena 3

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