In brief
- The authority that approves energy tariffs revises its own budget 72 days before the end of the year. Order no. 66/2026 of the President of the National Energy Regulatory Authority was published on 21 October 2026 and enters into force on the date of publication, under Article 6. The figures are approved for the whole of 2026, but the new ceilings effectively govern only the period from 21 October 2026 to 31 December 2026, that is 72 days.
- The money does not come from the state budget, but from the charges paid by electricity and gas operators. In Annex no. 1, all revenue is own current revenue: 148 million lei from annual contributions and tariffs, 23.30 million lei from licences, 7.58 million lei from attestations and 4 million lei from the authorisation of legal and natural persons, plus 100,000 lei in interest. The published structure contains no line for a subsidy from the state budget.
- Revenue of 182.98 million lei, expenditure capped at 180.86 million lei. More than half of expenditure, 93.58 million lei, goes on staff, and the second-largest line, 69.64 million lei, is taxes, charges and fines owed to the general consolidated budget. The order does not identify the act it revises, so the difference from the initial 2026 budget cannot be calculated from the published act.
Published: Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 883 of 21 October 2026, pages 3-6
Who is affected: holders of licences, attestations and authorisations in electricity, natural gas and thermal energy, who pay the annual contribution and tariffs to the authority; the staff and the management of the institution; final energy and gas consumers, in so far as these costs feed through into regulated prices; the departments that run the projects financed from European funds
Takes effect: 21 October 2026, because Article 6 provides that the order enters into force on the date of its publication in the Official Gazette of Romania
The National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE), the institution that approves regulated electricity and natural gas tariffs, has revised its own budget for 2026. Order no. 66/2026, signed by the authority’s president, George-Sergiu Niculescu, was published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 883 of 21 October 2026, on pages 3-6, and takes effect the same day.
The act has six articles and two annexes. Article 1 approves the revised revenue and expenditure budget for 2026, set out in Annex no. 1. Article 3 approves the budget for projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds, set out in Annex no. 2. Article 2 states that total expenditure corresponding to the total revenue entered in the budget constitutes maximum limits that may not be exceeded, while Article 5 places on the authority the responsibility for raising, administering, committing and using the amounts. Article 4 refers to the two annexes, with a note specifying that they are reproduced in facsimile.
For a reader who pays an energy bill, the question that matters is where this authority’s money comes from. The revenue structure in Annex no. 1 shows it plainly. The current revenue chapter is split into tax revenue, which covers charges for the use of goods, for authorisation to use goods or to carry out activities, with lines for charges and tariffs for issuing licences and operating authorisations, revenue from annual contributions and tariffs, revenue from licences, revenue from attestations and revenue from the authorisation of legal and natural persons, and non-tax revenue, where only interest income appears. Annual contributions and tariffs alone bring in 148 million lei out of 182.98 million, or 80.9% of the year’s revenue. The direct payers are therefore the regulated electricity and gas operators. The order contains no provision on the recovery of these amounts or on how they are reflected in final prices.
The legal basis invoked in the preamble is twofold: the provisions of Law no. 500/2002 on public finance, namely Article 16(1)(b), Article 21, Article 62(1)(c) and Article 65, and Article 2(4) and (6) of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 33/2007 on the organisation and functioning of the authority, approved with amendments and additions by Law no. 160/2012. The document that triggered the revision is internal report no. 137.119 of 28 September 2026.
What it changes in practice
The order changes the ceilings within which the authority may commit expenditure until 31 December 2026. From 21 October 2026, the institution’s authorising officer works with the revised figures in Annex no. 1, not with those in the initial 2026 budget. Commitments already entered into during the first ten months of the year remain inside the new annual totals, because the revised budget is approved for the whole financial year, not for the period that is left.
The figures in Annex no. 1, in thousand lei, show where the money goes:
| Chapter | Revised programme 2026 (thousand lei) | Share of total expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | 182,978 | – |
| Total expenditure | 180,861 | 100% |
| Staff costs | 93,577 | 51.7% |
| Taxes, charges and fines owed to the general consolidated budget | 69,642 | 38.5% |
| Goods and services | 12,263 | 6.8% |
| Capital expenditure | 4,370 | 2.4% |
| Other expenditure (amounts relating to unemployed persons with disabilities, transfers, social assistance, European co-financing) | 1,009 | 0.6% |
Revenue exceeds expenditure by 2.12 million lei. Within staff costs, basic salaries account for 69.04 million lei, the seniority increment for 15.53 million lei and management allowances for 2.37 million lei.
The second effect concerns limits. The formula in Article 2, that total expenditure constitutes maximum limits that may not be exceeded, turns the sum in Annex no. 1 into a firm ceiling rather than an estimate. Exceeding it would be a matter of budget execution, for which the authority answers under Article 5.
The third effect concerns projects financed from European funds. Annex no. 2 contains the budget for projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds, with a chapter for non-reimbursable external funds, current expenditure, post-accession projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds, Community programmes financed in the 2021-2027 period, and a line for non-reimbursable external financing. The project total is 295,000 lei, of which 34,000 lei is proposed for 2026, followed by estimates of 69,000 lei for 2027, 70,000 lei for 2028, 53,000 lei for 2029 and 69,000 lei for 2030-2031. The figures are therefore multiannual, not confined to 2026.
For regulated operators, the order creates no new payment obligation and does not change the level of the contribution or of the tariffs. It merely states how much the authority spends out of what it has collected, or expects to collect, from them.
What has changed compared with the previous situation
Until 20 October 2026, the authority’s initial 2026 budget applied. From 21 October 2026, the revised version applies. The practical difficulty is that the order does not name the act it replaces or amends: there is no number for the order that approved the initial budget, no repeal clause and no comparison between the two versions. Anyone who wants to see what has gone up and what has gone down has to place two separately published documents side by side.
The second change concerns scope. The title of the order puts two different things into the same act: the revised budget of the institution itself and the budget for projects financed from European funds. Annex no. 1 contains a chapter for post-accession projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds, with lines for Community programmes financed in the 2021-2027 period and for national financing, while Annex no. 2 contains the non-reimbursable external financing for those same programmes. The national co-financing therefore sits in one annex, with 2,000 lei for 2026, and the European share in the other, with 34,000 lei for the same year.
Otherwise, the architecture of the budget remains the classic one for an executive authority. The 12.26 million lei for goods and services is split between other goods and services for maintenance and operation, 3.50 million lei, rent, 3.04 million lei, consultancy and expertise, 1 million lei, heating, lighting and motive power, 1 million lei, advertising for information campaigns, 786,000 lei, travel, 520,000 lei, of which 400,000 lei abroad, and current repairs, 376,000 lei, plus smaller lines, including the President’s Fund, 186,000 lei, and hospitality and representation, 100,000 lei. Contributions and membership fees to international bodies receive 325,000 lei, cash social benefits 69,000 lei and amounts relating to unemployed persons with disabilities 600,000 lei. Capital expenditure of 4.37 million lei goes on machinery, equipment and means of transport, 2.03 million lei, other fixed assets, 2.32 million lei, and furniture and office equipment, 12,000 lei.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it improves
- The budget of an authority financed from charges paid by a regulated industry reaches the Official Gazette of Romania, and therefore the public domain, instead of remaining an internal document.
- Article 2 sets expenditure as maximum limits that may not be exceeded, wording that leaves no room for reading the amounts as indicative.
- Article 5 expressly names who answers for raising, administering, committing and using the amounts, so responsibility is not diluted.
- The revenue structure in Annex no. 1 shows each source on a separate line, from annual contributions and tariffs through to attestations and authorisations, which lets anyone see who finances the authority.
- Projects financed from European funds have a budget of their own, in Annex no. 2, with separate columns for the project total and for the estimated years, so they do not sit inside operating expenditure.
- Entry into force on the date of publication removes any uncertainty about the moment from which the new ceilings apply.
What remains a problem
- The second-largest line in the budget, 69.64 million lei for taxes, charges and fines owed to the general consolidated budget, or 38.5% of expenditure, receives no explanation in the order.
- The act does not identify the initial budget it revises, so the scale of the revision cannot be established from the published act.
- There is no public reasoning for the revision. Internal report no. 137.119 of 28 September 2026 is cited, but its content is not published.
- The wording of Article 2 and Article 5 refers to the revenue and expenditure budget, which Article 1 ties to Annex no. 1, so it cannot be established whether the ceiling and the liability also cover the budget in Annex no. 2.
- The revision reaches the public 72 days before the end of the financial year, by which time most of the year’s expenditure has already been committed.
- The act says nothing about the effect of the revision on the level of the contribution and of the tariffs paid by operators, even though these are the budget’s only source of revenue.
- Annex no. 2 contains amounts estimated for several years, whereas the approval given in Article 3 does not specify the period it covers.
Practical advice
- If you hold a licence, an attestation or an authorisation in electricity or gas, note that the order does not in itself change the level of the contribution or of the annual tariffs. Payment obligations remain those set by the acts that establish the contribution, not by this budget.
- The exact amounts, line by line, are reproduced below in the text of the act and appear in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 883 of 21 October 2026, on pages 4-6. All values are in thousand lei.
- If the scale of the revision matters to you, obtain the order that approved the initial 2026 budget as well and compare the two line by line. This order does not make the comparison.
- The reasons for the revision can be obtained through a request for information of public interest addressed to the authority, referring to internal report no. 137.119 of 28 September 2026, which is cited in the preamble.
- Suppliers that sell services to public institutions can read in Annex no. 1 which expenditure lines remain open until 31 December 2026, from fixed assets and furniture through to information campaigns, and can follow the procurement carried out in the remaining period.
- If you follow European funds, read Annex no. 2 together with the chapter on post-accession projects in Annex no. 1. The national co-financing and the non-reimbursable share are in different annexes, so a single annex does not give the full picture of a project.
- Note 21 October 2026 as the moment from which the new ceilings apply. Execution up to 20 October 2026 is assessed against the revised annual figures, not against the initial ones.
Frequently asked questions
From what date does the order apply?
What exactly does this order approve?
Where does the money in this authority’s budget come from?
Do I pay anything extra as a household consumer?
Will energy tariffs change because of this order?
Can I see the exact amounts on each line?
What does it mean that total expenditure constitutes maximum limits?
What is Annex no. 2 and why is it separate from the budget?
Who answers if the limits are exceeded?
How long did it take from the proposed revision to publication?
Errors and inconsistencies in the published text
- Article 2 and Article 5, read against Article 1 and Article 3. The order approves two distinct budgets: the revised revenue and expenditure budget, through Article 1 and Annex no. 1, and the budget for projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds, through Article 3 and Annex no. 2. The ceiling in Article 2 and the liability in Article 5 refer, however, only to the revenue and expenditure budget, that is to the formula that Article 1 ties to Annex no. 1. The text does not allow one to establish whether the maximum limits and the liability regime also apply to the amounts in Annex no. 2. The problem is not theoretical, because the same projects appear in both annexes: Annex no. 1 contains the chapter on post-accession projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds, with lines for Community programmes financed in the 2021-2027 period and for national financing, while Annex no. 2 contains the non-reimbursable external financing for those same programmes. A reader acting in good faith may conclude either that the ceiling covers only the national co-financing in Annex no. 1 or that it covers the whole project.
- Article 3, read against the table header in Annex no. 2. Article 3 approves the budget for projects financed from non-reimbursable external funds without specifying the period for which the approval is given, while the title of the order places the revision in 2026. The table header in Annex no. 2 nevertheless has columns for the project total, for proposals and for several estimated years. It cannot be established whether the approval in Article 3 concerns only the amounts proposed for 2026 or also the amounts estimated for the following years, even though the difference decides whether multiannual commitments already have an act of approval behind them.
Editorial analysis
Order no. 66/2026 is, in substance, an act of internal administration, and its operative part raises no problems of legal construction. Six articles, two annexes, a twofold basis in Law no. 500/2002 and in Government Emergency Ordinance no. 33/2007, a clear entry-into-force clause. What is open to question is not what it says, but how little of what it says can be verified.
Two simple calculations say more than the text. The first: 23 days pass between the date of the internal report, 28 September 2026, and the date of the order, 21 October 2026, while no day at all passes between signature and publication, because the order is dated in Bucharest on the very day it appears in the Official Gazette of Romania. The delay is therefore entirely inside the authority, not at the publication stage. The second: from 21 October 2026 to 31 December 2026 there are 72 days left, less than a fifth of the financial year. The revised ceilings are approved for the whole year, but their binding effect operates over this remainder. In other words, an annual ceiling enters into force when almost four fifths of the year’s expenditure has already been committed, which makes it more a regularisation of execution than a limit that disciplines decisions.
The second observation comes from putting the two annexes together. The authority publishes its own budget and the budget for European projects in the same act, yet the national co-financing of the same Community programmes financed in the 2021-2027 period sits in Annex no. 1, and the non-reimbursable share in Annex no. 2. For any given project, neither annex shows the total cost on its own, and the ceiling in Article 2, tied to the revenue and expenditure budget, falls expressly on only one of them. This is a choice of architecture rather than a drafting slip, and it makes it harder to follow exactly what the authority finances with European money.
One substantive observation remains, made unavoidable by the structure of the revenue. The authority finances itself from charges for issuing licences and authorisations, from annual contributions and tariffs, from attestations and from authorisations, that is from payments made by the very operators whose tariffs it approves, plus from interest. In an arrangement of that kind, transparency of expenditure is not a matter of form, because it is the only instrument through which the payer can see what it gets in return. The lines that usually draw attention are small: the President’s Fund has 186,000 lei, hospitality 100,000 lei, advertising for information campaigns 786,000 lei and foreign travel 400,000 lei, together less than 1% of expenditure. The real question lies elsewhere. The line for taxes, charges and fines owed to the general consolidated budget holds 69.64 million lei, more than four times goods, services and investment combined, and the order does not say what the authority pays under that heading. For the operators who fund the budget, it is the difference between knowing what almost 70 million lei of their money pays for further down the line and having to infer it from a budget classification code.
What should be changed
- Identification of the act being revised, in the operative part. Article 1 should name the order by which the initial 2026 budget was approved. The reader could then compare the two versions without having to hunt for the first act separately, and the word „revised” would have a precise referent in the text.
- A column with the initial budget, next to the revised one. Annex no. 1 has a single column of values, the revised programme. Adding the initial column and the difference would show directly what goes up and what goes down, instead of leaving the calculation to the reader.
- An explanation for the 69.64 million lei line. The order should show what the line for taxes, charges and fines owed to the general consolidated budget covers. As the second-largest line after staff costs, it says more about where the operators’ money ends up than any other line in the annex.
- Express extension of Article 2 and Article 5 to Annex no. 2. A reference to both budgets, not only to the revenue and expenditure budget, would close the uncertainty over the ceiling and the liability for the amounts intended for projects financed from external funds.
- Specification of the period in Article 3. If the approval concerns only the proposals for 2026, the text should say so, and the columns with estimated years should be marked as indicative. That would show whether multiannual commitments are already covered by an approved act.
- An explanatory memorandum published together with the order. Internal report no. 137.119 of 28 September 2026 is the only explanation of the revision and remains unpublished. Publishing it, even in short form, would clarify why the ceilings are being changed 72 days before the end of the year.
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. 883 of 21 October 2026, pages 3-6 16 pages PDF, 190 KB the act starts on page 3
Open the official PDFDownload the PDF
The viewer is not shown on small screens. Use the buttons above to open or download the file.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.