Historical study regarding the protection of consumers within the electric energy and natural gas markets
The supply of electric energy and natural gas is a service of general interest, with a vital importance in satisfying the consumer’s basic needs. The conducted research is descriptive and its main focus is on the study of the field literature, aiming at aspects such as identifying the historic ev...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest
2013-06-01
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| Series: | Amfiteatru Economic |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/ArticolEN.aspx?CodArticol=1207 |
| Summary: | The supply of electric energy and natural gas is a service of general interest, with a vital
importance in satisfying the consumer’s basic needs. The conducted research is descriptive
and its main focus is on the study of the field literature, aiming at aspects such as
identifying the historic evolution of the electric energy and natural gas markets in Romania,
the behaviour of companies operating on these markets and their impact on the consumers’
rights. The research methodology has been established starting from a synthetic analysis of
the most recent published studies on the observation of the European policy in the energy
field and EU’s efforts to build up a single, competitive market, including two sectors that
not long ago were dominated by monopolistic national actors: electric energy and gas. The
research methods imply study monitoring and reports as well as forecast analyses regarding
the capacity of the Three Energy Packages, once implemented, to support the creation of
competitive, transparent and uniformly regulated energy markets within the EU countries,
in order to ensure the protection of the consumers of these general interest services.
The research has a dual approach, combining quantitative and qualitative elements as well
as conducting the analysis of the correlations between the efforts and effects registered in
the field of consumer protection. The first section of the article offers conceptual
clarifications regarding both the European policy in the energy field and the consumers of
general economic services. The second section gives an insight into the energy and gas
markets in Romania as well as the main obstacles in the way of their liberalization. The
third section presents the efforts made with respect to consumer protection in the field of
energy, analyzing the European Directives’ fundamental ideas regarding the protection of
consumers and the phase of their embedment into our legislation in order to achieve a full
legislative harmonization. |
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| ISSN: | 1582-9146 2247-9104 |