In Romania these months, after the pandemic and the economic crisis, there has been a lot of discussion about the political crisis. Subsequently, a rather serious problem arose, namely the explosion of gas and electricity prices. Huge bills have been issued to consumers, and the government is unable to find solutions. The new CEO of E.ON Romania, Volker Raffel, made several proposals to reduce these costs. Whether or not they were considered by the interim prime minister remains to be seen.
The crisis of widespread electricity bills across Europe
European ministers had energy prices on their agenda when they met in Luxembourg on Monday earlier this month. Driven by growing international demand and a sharp economic recovery, gas prices have risen steadily since the beginning of the year and then began to rise during the summer, when high temperatures pushed people to use air conditioning and cooling systems.
At the Dutch Securities Transfer Facility, Europe’s main benchmark, prices rose from 16 megawatts per hour in early January to 98 euros by the end of September. It has grown sixfold in less than a year. The desire of East Asian countries to pay more for fuel has exacerbated the trend.
The energy crisis is resulting in rising bills for the continent’s citizens. Especially for those who have a variable price contract with their electricity suppliers and are therefore subject to market fluctuations. The situation has become even more worrying since the reading of inflation in the euro area in September. It surprised observers after reaching 3.4 percent, far from the European Central Bank’s target of an annual rate of 2%. Inflation for energy prices exceeded 17%.
Rising energy prices have become “unbearable” for EU citizens and companies and require a “European response”, said Bruno Le Maire, the French Minister of Economy and Finance, before meeting with his counterparts in Luxembourg for a Eurogroup meeting.
Volker Raffel, CEO of E.ON Romania, proposals to the government
In August this year, Volker Raffel took over the position of CEO of E.ON Romania, announcing at that time that he intends to “consolidate the results obtained so far by the E.ON group in Romania, moving on to the strategic objective of being a company dedicated to the transition to the new world of energy: sustainable, digital and green, customer-oriented needs. That is our common mission. “
Today in a crisis of both economic and ideas in managing the explosion of electricity prices, you expect those who govern to lean on the proposals of market experts, such as Volker Raffel, who comes with an experience of over 20 in the energy sector
In an interview with Economedia, the new CEO of E.ON, Volker Raffel, came up with proposals for the governors regarding the reduction of electricity bills.
One of the measures proposed by Volker Raffel, following the example of Germany, would be to reduce VAT for the next 6 months. Or, why not, “ensuring green certificates for renewable energy production from the state budget,” says Volker Raffel.
“So there are more opportunities to do something. Let’s see how the political debate will unfold, because these are political decisions. We, as a company, cannot decide on them.
But there must be democratic discussions and, if prices continue to rise, I believe that useful measures will be needed “, said the head of E.ON Romania, Volker Raffel.
