Romania"s energy market regulator ANRE is waiting to see what the Government and AVAS are going to decided about the operation of the National Energy Company (CEN). ANRE President Nicolae Opris told Bursa: "ANRE has been accused of not taking any stand on this matter. However, something must be clarified: the Government needs to decide how the future company is going to operate on the free energy market. Only after, can we take stand. During consultations with AVAS, several options came under review. We, as the regulator, are not interested in how the State organizes production, distribution and supply of energy, but only in their operation, so that consumers and free competition are protected." He added that, if the decision was made to keep CEN"s components (Hidroelectrica, Rovinari, Turceni and the distribution and supply subsidiaries of Electrica) legally independent, their behavior on the free energy market would not change. But, if the three producers become one entity under Electrica, they will dominate the market with some 50% of the overall production. If so, ANRE would have to implement monitoring instruments from keeping CEN from abusing this situation. AVAS issued a press release to announce that the energy produced by the three components of CEN would be traded transparently on the centralized markets managed by OPCOM. However, AVAS" intent has not been put into law, although a month has passed since the Government approved the emergency ordinance.
National Energy Co. Operation Still Foggy
F.A.
Ziarul BURSA #English Section / 10 noiembrie 2008