In brief

  • The cogeneration contribution rises to 0.0157 lei/kWh excluding VAT, that is 15.70 lei per MWh, or about 0.0190 lei/kWh with 21% VAT included. The new level applies from 1 November 2026.
  • 8.28% more than the summer level. Until 31 October 2026 the contribution was 0.0145 lei/kWh, and on 1 July 2025 it had been 0.0084 lei/kWh, so in sixteen months it has risen by 86.90%.
  • A household using 100 kWh a month pays 1.90 lei a month and 22.80 lei a year, VAT included, of which 1.74 lei a year is the present increase. At 250 kWh a month the annual sum reaches 56.99 lei.
  • Suppliers have ten days to change the figure in their billing, from publication on 22 October 2026 until 1 November 2026, and the order says nothing about what happens to a bill that covers both October and November.
Act: Order of the President of the National Energy Regulatory Authority no. 65/2026 for the approval of the contribution for high-efficiency cogeneration
Published: Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 884 of 22 October 2026, page 15
In force from: 1 November 2026, a date expressly set by Article 5 of the order

From 1 November 2026, every kilowatt-hour of electricity billed in Romania carries a contribution of 0.0157 lei excluding VAT for high-efficiency cogeneration, 8.28% more than the level that held through this summer. Order no. 65/2026 of the President of the National Energy Regulatory Authority, the body that regulates the electricity and gas markets, was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 884 of 22 October 2026 and comes eight days after the same authority almost doubled the reference prices for heat produced in cogeneration. The two decisions concern the same mechanism seen from its opposite ends: one says how much the producers receive, the other how much the consumers put up.

The contribution for high-efficiency cogeneration is not a network tariff and it is not a budget tax. It is a sum included in the price of electricity, paid by every connected consumer, from the two-room flat to the industrial plant with its own medium-voltage line, and out of it is financed the support scheme for the power stations that produce electricity and heat at the same time. Cogeneration means exactly that: a single burning of fuel from which both are drawn, instead of producing them separately, with greater losses. The state pays these stations a bonus, and the money for the bonus is collected through the contribution levied on everybody’s consumption.

The mechanism has been running since 2009, under Government Decision no. 1.215/2009 on the criteria and conditions needed to implement the support scheme for promoting high-efficiency cogeneration on the basis of useful heat demand. The level of the contribution is not set out in the decision, however: it is fixed by the National Energy Regulatory Authority through an order of a few paragraphs, which it revises twice a year. The order of 22 October 2026 is the fourth revision in the last sixteen months.

What it changes in practice

The operative part of the order comes down to a single figure. Article 1 approves the contribution „at the value of 0.0157 lei/kWh, excluding VAT”, and the remaining articles say who is to carry it out, who checks, what is repealed and from when it applies. The figure in the act is net of VAT, so for the bill it has to be raised by the standard rate of 21%: 0.0157 lei multiplied by 1.21 gives 0.018997 lei per kilowatt-hour, which a bill will show rounded, at around 0.0190 lei/kWh. Expressed in the unit used in large contracts, the level is 15.70 lei per MWh excluding VAT and roughly 19 lei per MWh with VAT.

For a household that uses 100 kWh a month, which is a small consumption, a flat with few appliances, the contribution means 1.57 lei a month excluding VAT and 1.90 lei with VAT. Over a year, at 1,200 kWh, that works out at 18.84 lei excluding VAT and 22.80 lei with VAT. Until 31 October 2026 the same household paid 1.45 lei a month excluding VAT and 1.75 lei with VAT, so 21.05 lei a year. The increase therefore costs 15 bani a month, a hundredth of a leu each, and 1.74 lei a year, VAT included.

At a consumption of 250 kWh a month, closer to a family with a fridge, a washing machine and an electric boiler, the contribution rises to 3.93 lei a month excluding VAT and 4.75 lei with VAT, that is 47.10 lei excluding VAT and 56.99 lei with VAT over a year. The increase in itself means 36 bani a month and 4.36 lei a year here. These are sums nobody notices on a single bill, and that is precisely why they are worth reading cumulatively: at the level of 1 July 2025 the same family paid 30.48 lei a year with VAT, so in sixteen months this line has become 26.51 lei a year more expensive.

For industrial consumers, where the contribution applies on the same basis but to volumes of another order of magnitude, the effect shows up at once. A consumer using 1 GWh a year, that is 1,000 MWh, pays 15,700 lei a year excluding VAT, 1,200 lei more than at the previous level. A consumer using 10 GWh a year pays 157,000 lei, 12,000 lei more. For companies that track their energy cost by component, the contribution is no longer a rounding: at a final energy price of one leu per kilowatt-hour, it accounts for 1.57% of the value of the energy consumed.

The obligation to apply it is placed, by Article 2, on „the economic operators in the electricity sector”, and the monitoring of compliance, by Article 3, on the authority’s internal departments. The final consumer appears nowhere in the text of the order, although he is the one who pays: the contribution is collected through the bill issued by the supplier and passed on into the support scheme. In practice, the one who feels the measure has no direct obligation under the act and no counterpart named in it.

What has changed compared with the previous situation

Order no. 65/2026 repeals, by Article 4, Order of the President of the National Energy Regulatory Authority no. 49/2026, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 526 of 26 June 2026, which had set the contribution at 0.0145 lei/kWh excluding VAT from 1 July 2026. The repeal takes effect „on the date of entry into force of the present order”, that is on 1 November 2026, so no day is left without an applicable level and none with two overlapping levels. On this point the order is built correctly, which does not happen by itself.

Set out in a row, the level of the contribution shows a steadily rising slope. On 1 July 2025 it was 0.0084 lei/kWh, under Order no. 28/2025, published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 603 of 27 June 2025. On 1 November 2025 it rose to 0.0136 lei/kWh, under Order no. 66/2025, published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 974 of 22 October 2025, an increase of 61.90% in a single step. On 1 July 2026 it reached 0.0145 lei/kWh, 6.62% more. And from 1 November 2026 it is 0.0157 lei/kWh, a further 8.28%. Cumulatively, from 1 July 2025 to 1 November 2026, the contribution has risen by 86.90%, and in the last twelve months alone, since 1 November 2025, by 15.44%.

The comparison with the order of June 2026 also brings to light a change that has nothing to do with the figure. The preamble of the present order invokes Articles 11, 12(1), (2) and (21), 14 and 15 of Government Decision no. 1.215/2009. Order no. 49/2026, of June, invoked Articles 11, 12(1) and (2), 14, 15 and, in addition, 17(1) and (2), but not paragraph (21) of Article 12. The same set as the present one had also appeared in Order no. 66/2025, of October last year. The autumn revision and the summer one therefore rest on different legal bases drawn from the same decision, and the order does not explain why.

The wording of the title has changed as well. Orders no. 66/2025 and no. 49/2026 are called „privind aprobarea contribuției pentru cogenerarea de înaltă eficiență”, on the approval of the contribution for high-efficiency cogeneration. The one of 22 October 2026 is called „pentru aprobarea contribuției pentru cogenerarea de înaltă eficiență”, for the approval of the same contribution, with a different Romanian preposition. The difference is one word and changes nothing in substance, but it changes the result of an exact-title search in the public registers, where the act in force can hide behind a preposition.

Advantages and disadvantages

What it improves

  • The level is a single figure, expressed per kilowatt-hour, so any consumer can check the line on the bill by two multiplications, without reading a methodology.
  • The repeal of the previous order is tied to the date of entry into force of the new one, not to the date of publication, so between 31 October and 1 November 2026 there is neither a regulatory gap nor a doubling.
  • The date of application is written into the act, 1 November 2026, not left to the general rule of entry into force on publication, so suppliers have nothing to infer.
  • The ten days between publication and application are more than the summer revision gave, where there were five days, from 26 June to 1 July 2026.
  • The calendar is predictable: as in 2025, the autumn order was published on 22 October and applies from 1 November, which allows suppliers to plan the work on their billing systems.
  • The increase of 8.28% is the smaller of the last two autumn revisions, after the jump of 61.90% in November 2025.

What remains a problem

  • Nowhere is it stated whether the new level applies to energy consumed from 1 November 2026 or to bills issued after that date, and a bill for 15 October to 15 November falls exactly into this uncertainty.
  • Article 1 approves a figure without indicating the period for which it was calculated, so the reader cannot check whether the level covers half a year, a full year or an open-ended interval.
  • The figure is given net of VAT while the bill shows it with VAT, so the consumer who compares the two values believes he has been overcharged.
  • There is no public note alongside the order about what pushed the contribution up by 8.28%, although the money is taken from every consumer.
  • The legal basis invoked from Government Decision no. 1.215/2009 differs between the summer revision and the autumn one, with no explanation in the act.
  • The final consumer, the only one who actually pays, is not mentioned in any article of the order, not even as the addressee of a notification.

Practical advice

  1. Look on your bill for the line with the cogeneration contribution, usually grouped next to the excise duty and the network tariff, and check the unit value. From 1 November 2026 it must be 0.0157 lei/kWh excluding VAT, or about 0.0190 lei/kWh if the supplier displays the value with VAT included.
  2. Multiply your monthly consumption in kilowatt-hours by 0.0157 and then by 1.21. The result is the sum you pay for the cogeneration scheme in that month, with VAT. At 180 kWh, for example, it comes to 3.42 lei.
  3. If you receive a bill that covers both days in October and days in November 2026, ask the supplier for a breakdown by the two levels, 0.0145 and 0.0157 lei/kWh. The act does not regulate the split, so each supplier’s practice has to be checked, not assumed.
  4. Companies consuming more than 1 GWh a year should enter the new level in their 2027 budget before planning closes: 15.70 lei per MWh excluding VAT means 15,700 lei for every gigawatt-hour, and the contribution will be recalculated again, predictably, on 1 July 2027.
  5. Do not confuse this contribution with the reference prices for heat produced in cogeneration, approved separately in October 2026. You pay the first on your electricity, the second is reflected in the heating bill.
  6. If you need the exact level for a past month, look for the order that was in force then, not the current level: 0.0084 lei/kWh between 1 July and 31 October 2025, 0.0136 lei/kWh between 1 November 2025 and 30 June 2026, 0.0145 lei/kWh between 1 July and 31 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cogeneration contribution and why does it appear on my electricity bill?
It is a sum included in the price of electricity, which finances the support scheme for power stations that produce electricity and heat at the same time. It is charged to all connected consumers, household and industrial alike, through the bill issued by the supplier, and it has existed since 2009, on the basis of Government Decision no. 1.215/2009. Its level is not set by the supplier but by the National Energy Regulatory Authority, through an order published in the Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial).
How much is added to my bill from 1 November 2026?
The level rises from 0.0145 to 0.0157 lei per kilowatt-hour excluding VAT, an addition of 0.0012 lei per kilowatt-hour. At a consumption of 100 kWh a month you pay 1.90 lei a month with VAT instead of 1.75 lei, so 15 bani more, and 22.80 lei a year instead of 21.05 lei. At 250 kWh a month the difference is 36 bani a month and 4.36 lei a year.
Does the figure of 0.0157 lei/kWh in the order include VAT?
No. Article 1 of Order no. 65/2026 says explicitly „excluding VAT”. At the standard rate of 21%, the value becomes 0.018997 lei per kilowatt-hour, which bills usually display rounded to 0.0190 lei/kWh. If a value larger than the one in the order appears on your bill, this is normally the explanation, not a billing error.
My bill covers both October and November 2026. Which value applies?
The order does not answer this question. It says only that it enters into force on 1 November 2026 and that from that date the order with 0.0145 lei/kWh is repealed. The normal logic is that energy consumed up to 31 October carries the old level and energy consumed from 1 November the new one, but the order does not require the breakdown, so the method of calculation has to be requested from the supplier in writing.
Can I refuse to pay the contribution or choose a supplier that does not charge it?
No. The contribution applies to electricity consumption, not to a supplier’s commercial offer, and Article 2 of the order obliges the economic operators in the electricity sector to carry it out. All suppliers bill it, at the same unit level. The only variable left to the consumer is consumption.
How much has the contribution risen in the last year and a half?
From 0.0084 lei/kWh, the level applicable from 1 July 2025, to 0.0157 lei/kWh from 1 November 2026, an increase of 86.90% in sixteen months, through four successive orders. In the last twelve months alone, from 0.0136 lei/kWh applicable since 1 November 2025, the increase is 15.44%.
When will the level change again?
The order sets no period of validity, so 0.0157 lei/kWh remains in force until a subsequent order. The pattern so far shows two revisions a year, one applicable from 1 July and one from 1 November, published a few days in advance. On that pattern, the next change is to be expected at the end of June 2027, applying from 1 July 2027.

Editorial analysis

The preamble of the order runs to 1,182 characters and 166 words, while the five articles together run to 969 characters and 135 words. Put another way, the list of legal bases is longer than everything the act provides. That is not a flaw, it is the signature of a type of act: a calculation decision, taken elsewhere, on the basis of a methodology that is not published together with the result, and recorded in an order that contains no reasoning, only the figure. The consumer who wants to understand why he is paying 8.28% more has nothing to read: neither the order nor its preamble says what has grown in the support scheme.

The second observation comes out of the comparison with the previous orders, not from reading this one. The authority gives itself twelve days from signature on 20 October 2026 to application, of which only ten are public, because publication took place on 22 October. Exactly the same calendar was used in 2025: signed on 21 October, published on 22 October, applicable from 1 November. The summer revision, by contrast, leaves suppliers five days, from 26 June to 1 July 2026, and four days in 2025. There is no term in the act that the authority assumes for itself, for instance an obligation to publish the level a minimum number of days before application, even though that interval decides whether a change of parameter reaches the billing systems of every supplier in the country in time.

The third observation is technical, but it has consequences. The preamble of the present order rests on Articles 11, 12(1), (2) and (21), 14 and 15 of Government Decision no. 1.215/2009. The previous order, the one of June 2026, rested on Articles 11, 12(1) and (2), 14, 15 and 17(1) and (2), without paragraph (21). The one of October 2025 used exactly the present set. The two annual revisions therefore do not invoke the same legal basis, and paragraph (21) appears only in the autumn one. The reader who wants to find out what authorises a change of level during the year cannot deduce it from the act, because the act lists legal bases without saying which of them supports which point. Separately from this, the title has changed from „privind aprobarea” to „pentru aprobarea”, a difference with no legal effect, but enough for an exact-title search in the public registers to miss the act in force and return the repealed order instead.

The good part, worth saying because it is not automatic, is that the act is clean where it mattered: the repeal of the old order is tied to the entry into force of the new one, not to publication, so no day in November 2026 is left without an applicable level and none has two. The figure is given in a single unit, lei per kilowatt-hour, the same one the bills use, so it calls for no conversion. And the date of application is written into the act, not left to the general rule. The problems that remain are not problems of drafting, they are problems of transparency in the decision that preceded the drafting.

What should be changed

  1. The order should state whether the level applies to energy consumed from 1 November 2026 or to bills issued after that date, and how a bill covering both periods is to be broken down. Without that one sentence, every supplier decides for itself and consumers with staggered monthly bills pay differently for the same consumption.
  2. Article 1 should indicate the period for which the approved level was calculated. A figure without a reference interval cannot be checked by anyone outside the authority and makes any sound comparison between revisions impossible.
  3. The authority should publish, together with the order, the calculation note that leads from 0.0145 to 0.0157 lei/kWh: how much of the difference comes from the volume of cogenerated energy, how much from the cost of fuel and how much from the settlement of previous years. The sum is collected from every consumer, so the reason ought to be public in the same place as the result.
  4. The preamble should link each legal basis to the provision it supports, in particular the basis for revision during the year. The alternation between Article 17(1) and (2), invoked in June, and Article 12(21), invoked in October, cannot be explained by the reader and looks like an inconsistency even if it is not one.
  5. The wording of the title should be kept identical from one revision to the next, „privind aprobarea contribuției pentru cogenerarea de înaltă eficiență”, as Orders no. 66/2025 and no. 49/2026 were. One changed preposition breaks the series in exact-title searches and sends the user to the repealed act.
  6. The order should provide for a minimum interval between publication and application, say fifteen days, the same for both annual revisions. Five days in June and ten in October, for a change of parameter that has to be entered into the billing systems of every supplier in the country, is a term the authority chooses for itself rather than one it assumes.

Original text of the legal act

The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.

The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania

Official Gazette of Romania no. 884 of 22 October 2026, page 15 16 pages PDF, 104 KB the act starts on page 15

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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.