Energy #25 Legislative focus

The Government adopted Decision no. 782/2026, extending until 30 October 2026 the temporary electricity market security measures previously introduced under Government Decision no. 603/2026 and already extended once through the end of September.

The framework allows Transelectrica to activate a sequence of measures if a crisis situation materialises and the integrity of the National Power System is threatened.

The first measures involve increasing available reserves from generation units capable of operating with alternative fuels and activating units held in technical reserve.

If these measures are insufficient, Transelectrica may reduce or cancel available interconnection capacity for exports and electricity exchanges notified in the export direction.

As a last resort, electricity consumption may be reduced temporarily and in stages for final customers included in the applicable limitation plan. Network operators must notify affected customers at least 24 hours before the reduction is implemented and inform their suppliers. The annex identifying the affected customers and applicable reductions is not publicly available.

The decision entered into force on 1 October.

The extension preserves, for another month, a framework that allows intervention in the normal functioning of the electricity market if system security requires it.

For market participants, the most relevant exposure concerns the possibility of restrictions on export capacity and notified cross-border exchanges.

For customers included in the limitation plan, the framework also maintains the possibility of temporary consumption reductions, although this remains the final measure in the intervention sequence and requires prior notification.

Because the limitation annex is not public, companies cannot determine from the published decision alone whether they are included among the customers potentially affected or what reduction levels may apply.

ANRE published a draft order amending the rules on natural gas supply and access to distribution systems, primarily to implement provisions introduced by Law no. 160/2026 for eligible prosumers.

Under the proposed rules, eligible individual prosumers would be able to use the value resulting from the electricity quantitative compensation mechanism to pay, partially or fully, their natural gas bills when electricity and gas are supplied by the same supplier.

The gas bill or its annex would have to show separately the amount used through this mechanism.

The draft also introduces several changes unrelated to the prosumer mechanism, including clarifications on gas bill regularisation and distribution-service billing.

It also postpones from 1 October 2026 to 1 April 2027 the application of a requirement under which estimated gas quantities used to calculate distribution services must be correlated with the monthly quantities allocated to network users under the Network Code.

Distribution operators had requested a postponement until October 2027, citing the need to modify and test IT systems, internal processes and common procedures with suppliers. ANRE proposes only an additional six months.

The consultation is open until 16 October.

The draft provides the operational link between the electricity compensation mechanism available to eligible prosumers and their gas supply contracts.

For suppliers active in both electricity and gas, the measure creates additional billing, accounting and payment-processing requirements. Systems will need to identify the amounts generated through electricity compensation and apply them correctly against gas payment obligations.

The six-month postponement for gas distribution operators also indicates that implementation remains dependent on further IT and process changes. The difference between the one-year extension requested by operators and the six months proposed by ANRE may leave a relatively tight implementation window.

For prosumers, the measure would make the value generated from excess electricity more flexible by allowing it to cover a separate household energy cost, provided both services are supplied by the same company.

ANRE published a third consultation version of the draft order amending the Electricity Supply Regulation to operationalise renewable energy communities.

The new version further develops the contractual, balancing, allocation, billing and data-exchange rules that would apply between communities, their members, suppliers and distribution operators.

One of the main changes is the removal of the previous concept of a main supplier and the introduction of two separate models: a residual supplier, which supplies electricity consumed from the grid in addition to the amount allocated by the community, and a single supplier, which can cover the member’s full electricity demand. The community itself may act as the single supplier if it holds the required supply licence.

Members may therefore have separate contractual relationships for electricity allocated by the community and for residual electricity supplied from the grid, or use a single-supplier model.

The revised draft also requires communities to conclude contracts with members owning generation or storage units for the electricity they produce, further specifies balancing responsibilities and maintains two methods for allocating shared electricity between members.

Billing rules are also clarified. The community would invoice allocated electricity, the residual supplier would invoice residual electricity, while a single supplier would issue one bill showing both components separately.

The draft also adds new information requirements for prosumer offers and invoices, expands the rules governing online customer accounts and consumption alerts, and further details the multi-party agreement and data exchange between the community, suppliers and distribution operator.

The deadline for distribution operators to implement the IT functionalities required for shared-energy allocation is postponed from 1 October to 31 December 2026.

The consultation remains open until 16 October.

The third consultation phase gives companies a clearer view of how energy communities would function commercially once the framework becomes operational.

For communities, the revised draft clarifies how electricity can be supplied to members, how generation owned by individual members is purchased and how balancing responsibilities are divided.

For suppliers, the distinction between residual and single-supplier models creates different contractual, billing and balancing roles depending on the structure chosen by the community.

Distribution operators would have a central role in measuring and allocating shared electricity and exchanging data with communities and suppliers, while the extended implementation deadline gives them until the end of the year to deploy the necessary IT functionalities.

The changes therefore move the framework beyond the general legal recognition of energy communities towards the detailed operating arrangements required for actual market participation.