Romania’s pretext for not taking steps to reduce energy consumption slammed

Romania’s justification for not implementing measures to reduce energy consumption in recent years, as other EU countries have done, is not convincing, argues Energia Inteligentă, a Romanian professional energy association.

In 2022, EU countries reached a political agreement to voluntarily reduce gas demand by 15% (equivalent to 45 billion cubic metres, BCM) by spring 2023, which was exceeded by an 18% reduction (53 BCM), to which all sectors contributed, the association said.

While the EU reduction initiative has been extended twice, first until March 2024 and most recently until March 2025, Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia decided not to implement any voluntary energy reduction measures.

However, Romania’s justification for the decision, which cites the relatively low level of electricity consumption per capita compared to other European countries, is “completely wrong”, according to the experts at Energia Inteligentă.

According to them, this is “because the low level of consumption is due to the energy poverty in Romania and inadequate environmental conditions affecting approximately 39% of the population”.

Even going forward, Romania currently has no plans to reduce its gas consumption.

Romania aims to maintain or even increase gas usage, counting on its domestic production sources to meet demand, particularly after the Neptun Deep gas field begins production in 2027, making Romania the EU’s leading gas producer, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said after the Council decision in March.

Burduja added that the Council’s agreement is more of a recommendation than a commitment in the context of the need for certain European states to reduce their dependence on Russian gas.

Burduja expected an increase in gas consumption in Romania due to “the reactivation of the chemical fertiliser industry and by expanding gas distribution networks to the population through the Anghel Saligny programme”.

The analysis also shows that countries like Germany, Italy, France, Portugal and Spain have adopted strict energy-saving measures, while countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus and Slovenia have introduced measures later or have imposed consumption reduction rules only on either the public or the private sector.

Several other countries, including Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Sweden, and Estonia, have only recommended voluntary energy reduction measures.

The initial objective of the gas demand reduction in 2022 was to generate savings for the winter season and prepare for potential disruptions in gas supplies from Russia, which was using energy supplies as a political tool.

The Council’s recommendation of 4 March will help EU countries to take “adequate supply security measures until the transposition of the directives on energy efficiency and renewables in 2025”, which will both bring structural demand reduction in the near future while achieving EU’s decarbonisation goals, EU Council explained.

(Catalina Mihai | Euractiv.ro)

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