Installing smart electricity meters at 80% of the electricity consumers in Romania by 2020 is not feasible and the Government should change the law that provides this, according to representatives of the energy sector regulator ANRE.

Through the electricity and natural gas law in 2012, Romania committed to implementing smart metering. The target set then in the law was that by 2020, 80% of the consumers would have smart meters, based on a cost-opportunity study by AT Kearney. However, the pilot-projects carried out so far have showed that the timetable needs to be adjusted and legislative changes are needed in order to continue implementing this program, according to ANRE vice president Henorel Soreata.

He added that the transition to digitizing the energy sector needs a wider institutional involvement.

About 443,000 electricity consumers in Romania, namely 4.8% of the total, currently have smart meters. This year, the electricity distributors plan to expand this technology to another 270,000 consumers, according to ANRE.

editor@romania-insider.com