The European Commission accepted that, at the October 15 Council of Ministers, the joint request of Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece regarding the faulty functioning of the electricity market be debated, energy minister Sebastian Burduja announced at the briefing after the government meeting, Agerpres reported.

“If we contribute to the decarbonization process and the green transition, then we request to have the same rights – meaning access to electricity at a competitive price, comparable to the price other countries pay,” minister Burduja stated.

It is not normal for Eastern Europe to pay much higher prices for energy than Western Europe, as has happened in recent months, minister Burduja said in a Facebook post later the same day. 

He argued that central European countries impede the free functioning of the day-ahead market, containing the pressure from Ukraine and Moldova to a handful of countries in the Eastern part of the continent.

Burduja pointed to Austria and Slovakia as the countries that do not allow for the free flow of cheaper electricity from the western part of the continent to the eastern part. 

The additional demand for energy from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine puts additional pressure on prices in our region, the minister explained.

He presented a series of graphs, according to which, on July 11, the day-ahead price in Romania was EUR 190 per MWh, while in France it was EUR 78, in Spain EUR 86, in the Czech Republic EUR 100, in Austria EUR 75, and in Hungary EUR 264.

On September 2, the prices in Romania and Bulgaria were the highest in the region, namely EUR 234 per MWh, very close to the prices in Greece and Hungary, while the price was EUR 104 per MWh in France, EUR 116 in Spain, and EUR 115 in Germany.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)