"The Romanian state must better protect vulnerable consumers"

RADIO ROMANIA NEWS - Energy suppliers say that the Romanian state should increase the pool of consumers declared vulnerable in order to help the population more, in the context of raising prices.

The director of ENGIE Romania, Eric Stab, says that in his company's portfolio only two percent of Romanian consumers are declared vulnerable, while in France the figure is 10 times higher.

Eric Stab: “The first solution is to protect as many consumers who need help as possible, and to give you an example, out of the 1.9 million consumers of ENGIE, the Romanian state considers only 40.000 vulnerable, ie two percent. In France, the state helps about 20 percent of the population and I do not think that the standard of living is higher in Romania. I believe that the Romanian state should better protect vulnerable consumers, and this year in the conditions of high prices, the state should have applied the scheme directly to these vulnerable consumers. It would have been more efficient and easier than involving suppliers who are currently having liquidity problems, waiting for state settlements and will have losses due to this complicated scheme. This is what other states have done, because it is the responsibility of the state to help, not the suppliers. I call on the authorities to assess and take the right measures for the next period, to help the population that needs this, but without affecting the suppliers."

The statement was made during a debate organized by "Ziarul Financiar" - states the RRA reporter Bogdan Isopescu.

Translated by: Radu Matei