EU Commission may approve the support scheme for large energy consumers by mid-September

The state aid scheme aimed at supporting the large energy consumers by cutting down up to 85 percent of the green certificates (GCs) on the electricity bills could be approved by the EU Commission within the coming two weeks, Bogdan Chiritoiu, President of the Romanian Competition Council, told to Agerpres.

“We hope to receive feed-back from the European Commission in mid-September. We do not expect any objections from Brussels since the Romanian authorities have followed the principles of the related European guide”, said Chiritoiu according to the newswire.

In June 2014, Romania’s Government passed the Emergency Ordinance concerning the support measures directed towards large energy consumers who will be exempted from paying up to 85 percent of the green certificates.

Depending on power consumption, major industrial companies will benefit from a reduction of the quota of green certificates they are compelled to acquire, reduction which ranges from 40 percent to 85 percent– for the largest energy consumers.

Once the approval from the EU Commission is received, the subvention scheme will come into force. It will be effective for ten years, with up to 300 companies estimated to benefit from it. That, if the eligibility criteria is met, meaning that the companies which will request this state-aid must implement energy efficiency measures, maintain their number of employees during the period they are granted these subsidies and they must conclude partnerships with educational institutions in view of attracting qualified staff and increasing the professional level.

For 2013, the mandatory quota of green certificates to be purchased by electricity suppliers was nearly doubled compared to the previous year (0.224 GCs/MWh vs 0.1188 GCs/MWh in 2012) impacting the large energy consumers, as the subsidies granted to renewable energy producers are supported by the final consumers, the green certificates being included in the electricity invoices.