Why Romania repeatedly faces energy crises: An analysis of the last 36 years

Romania has endured not just one, but a succession of energy crises over the last three and a half decades. These recurring issues are rooted in the degradation of infrastructure inherited from the communist era, coupled with years of postponed investments. The situation was further complicated by a poorly managed market liberalization and the dramatic price increases seen in 2021-2022, all of which exposed persistent structural problems within the Romanian energy sector.

Dumitru Chisăliță, president of the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI), clarifies that the narrative of market liberalization being the sole cause of these problems is a significant misperception. He explains that Romania has experienced multiple, interconnected crises: the legacy of communism, delayed investments, incomplete privatizations, politicized regulation, poorly executed liberalization, and the recent price shocks. According to Chisăliță, liberalization merely brought these accumulated weaknesses to the surface rather than creating them.

The post-communist era saw Romania inherit an energy system designed for a centralized economy with heavy industrial consumption. As large industries collapsed, energy demand plummeted, creating a false sense of resource abundance. However, the underlying infrastructure was already outdated, with inefficient power plants and significant network losses. Crucial modernization investments were repeatedly deferred, while state-owned companies remained under political influence, masking the system's true issues through administered prices. This period represented a silent crisis, characterized by gradual infrastructure decay rather than immediate consumer impact.

Between 2000 and 2007, Romania began restructuring its energy sector and aligning with the European Union. Key privatizations, including Petrom and several energy distributors, occurred alongside the separation of production, transport, and distribution activities. While these reforms introduced capital and expertise, they lacked a coherent strategy for developing production capacity, energy storage, or network modernization. Consequently, despite progress toward a market economy, Romania's long-term energy security and independence remained unresolved challenges.

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Romania has not had a single energy crisis, but has been from crisis to crisis, a succession of overlapping crises: the crisis of the communist legacy, the crisis of delayed investments, the crisis of incomplete privatizations, the crisis of politicized regulation, the crisis of poorly prepared liberalization, and the crisis of prices in 2021–2022. Liberalization is not a cause, only a way to bring to the surface all the accumulated weaknesses of the Romanian energy system.