Romanian electricity supplier Electrica Furnizare bought 1.6 million green certificates for almost EUR 60 million from companies belonging to the Portuguese group EDP Renewables between April and May this year, according to Hotnews.ro.

The transactions were striking because of the very high volumes and the long delivery period, namely until 2019, given that the market is facing a huge surplus of green certificates.

Moreover, Romania’s Regulatory Authority for Energy - ANRE has announced the cut in the mandatory quota of green certificates from 12.15% to 8.3% for next year. This means that electricity suppliers need a lower number of green certificates for the same quantity of electricity delivered.

Electrica Furnizare said that it was more advantageous to buy from the same group on the long run to avoid the effort of concluding too many contracts.

But the reality shows a different story, according to Hotnews.ro. Electrica concluded at least 20 contracts with at least 11 companies that are part of the EDP Renewables group. The deals were made via the OPCOM bourse, but it’s hard to explain how Electrica Furnizare has managed to buy green certificates only from EDP Renewables companies given that there are 679 registered suppliers on the green certificates market.

Romania currently has a surplus of about 6 million green certificates and many renewable energy producers have been forced to write down their investments and posted losses due to regulatory changes.

Electrica Furnizare is part of state-controlled electricity holding Electrica, one of the richest companies in Romania in terms of cash reserves. Electrica’s shares are listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange (via global depository receipts – GDR).

Romania’s biggest electricity distributor ups dividends by 19% on higher profit

editor@romania-insider.com