Romanian electricity flows free from export fee

The long awaited scrapping of the Romanian electricity export fee happened late on Tuesday night, according to an official bill published by energy regulator ANRE.

Traders welcomed the move, which wipes some €4.00/MWh off the cost of flowing electricity out of the Romanian wholesale market. This cements the country’s place as one of the most competitive markets in the region in terms of prices.

Expectations that the scrap would be implemented from 1 July lifted demand for capacity in July at the monthly auctions on the Romanian-Hungarian link, and consequently the price ( see EDEM 11 June 2014 ). Romanian electricity flows usually head into the more expensive Hungarian market.

The last remaining component of the export tariff, the cogeneration fee, was subject to controversy this week, when ANRE published a law halving the cogeneration fee to New Lei 9.96 (€2.26)/MWh, which led traders to believe the decision to abolish the export fee had been delayed.

Market participants held their breath on Monday afternoon as the hours until the expected date of the scrap slipped away, but the government’s bill confirming the measure failed to materialize ( see EDEM 30 June 2014 ).

But waiting game for traders finally came to an end on Tuesday night, when the government published the bill officiating the move.

An energy department spokesperson said on Tuesday afternoon that despite the bill already having been approved, there was initially an issue with its publication, however, this was later resolved.

Romanian legislations state a law can only be implemented once it has been published. This means if the bill’s publication had not been carried out by the end of Tuesday, the process would have been delayed.

Sources previously deemed the measure vital in preparation for market coupling later this year. Romania will couple with neighbouring Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on 11 November ( see EDEM 19 February 2014 ). Sophie Udubasceanu