The procedure for the recovery of unduly issued green certificates has been approved

The Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) has approved the procedure for the recovery of green certificates issued unduly to economic operators accredited by the ANRE to apply the green certificate promotion scheme.

The ANRE is responsible for analysing supporting documents and identifying situations where a named electricity producer has unduly benefited from green certificates, either by itself monitoring the way green certificates are granted or further to complaints received from a third party.

Where applicable, the ANRE will request additional information from the transmission system operator or from the accredited producer of electricity generated from renewable energy sources, in order to establish the amount of electricity produced from renewable energy sources for which green certificates were unduly issued and the period during which this electricity was produced and delivered to the electricity grid and/or end consumers.

Upon completion of its analysis, the ANRE issues a decision establishing the number of green certificates issued unduly and the month(s), if any, for which they were issued. The decision will be issued within 30 days of the date on which the ANRE receives all the necessary documents showing that a given renewable electricity producer benefited from unduly issued green certificates, with the decision also being published on the ANRE website and communicated to both the economic operator concerned and the transmission system operator.

Under the procedure, the beneficiaries of unduly issued green certificates are also liable to pay interest on the period from the date of receipt of the unduly issued green certificates to the date of their full recovery. The ANRE has therefore succeeded in developing the necessary regulatory framework for the recovery of unduly issued green certificates, including the recovery of green certificates through their equivalent in interest payments, in order to correct its own errors.

Source: Order no. 59 of 5 April 2023 approving the Procedure for the recovery of unduly issued green certificates and amending the Regulation on the issuing of green certificates, approved by Order of the President of the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority no. 4/2015; and Law no. 102 of 13 April 2023 amending and supplementing Law no. 50/1991 on the authorisation of construction works and Law no. 554/2004 on administrative litigation, as well as supplementing Article 64 of Law no. 350/2001 on land use and urban planning