Prosumers · Romania’s power exchange
In 2025 a solar kWh was worth 60% of an average kWh on Romania’s power exchange. In 2019 it was worth a full one
Panels all produce in the same hours, and in those hours the price has fallen. For households with up to 200 kW, three October 2026 offers pay between 0.22 and 0.59 lei for each kWh fed into the grid, the same at any hour.
Pick a month or a year, a city and a system size: see what the output was worth on the exchange and what today’s rules and the post-2030 rule would pay for it.
Each square is a month: what a solar kWh was worth against an average kWh on the exchange that month. Full gold means a whole kWh, grey means half or less. Tap a year for the whole year.
2025 · 5 kW · Bucharest
A 5 kW system in Bucharest produces about 6,490 kWh in this period in a year of ordinary weather. On the exchange that power was worth 2,215 lei: 0.34 lei per kWh, 63% of an average kWh.
The calculation counts all output as delivered to the grid, before VAT and tariffs. A kWh used straight in the house saves the full price of a bought kWh. Before 26 July 2026 the rules were different, so the last two bars show what today’s rules would have paid, not what was paid then.
Moved by a battery from the sunny hours to 18:00–22:00, a kWh would have been worth another 0.40 lei on the exchange, after 10% losses and before the battery’s cost.
#Why a solar kWh is worth less
On Romania’s day-ahead market (PZU, run by the exchange operator OPCOM) every hour has its own price. A kWh from panels reaches the grid, in effect, in the sunny hours. In 2019 those hours were as dear as the rest of the day: a solar kWh was worth 104% of the year’s average. In 2023 it was worth 80%, in 2024 66%, in 2025 60%.
whole yearday by day: a solar kWh against the whole day’s average* 2026: 1 January – 25 October 2026.
The most likely explanation is the sheer number of panels: when thousands of megawatts produce at once, the midday price drops, sometimes below zero. The series shows sunny hours lining up with low prices; it does not separate the panels’ part from other factors, from demand to imports. In 2025, 8.5% of the year’s solar energy came in hours priced at zero or below; in 2023 it was 1.5%. The weakest day in the series was 1 May 2024, when a solar MWh was worth −184 lei on average at exchange prices.
2026 looks better: 64% up to 25 October 2026, against 58% over the same stretch of 2025. The rise comes from an expensive summer in 2026. Counted day by day, a solar kWh against the whole day’s average, it was worth 56% in 2026, the lowest yet (57% in 2025, 105% in 2019). The weakest month was March 2026: 46%.
How the cheap hours moved from night to midday, hour by hour since 2019: Electricity is no longer cheap at night.
#What a prosumer gets on the bill
Law 160/2026, in force since 26 July 2026, rewrote the rules for prosumers with up to 200 kW per site, households or firms. The supplier bills monthly and counts like this:
- Power drawn from the grid is paid at the contract’s energy price, plus tariffs and taxes.
- Power delivered to the grid is deducted at the contract’s energy price, without taxes or tariffs, up to the amount consumed.
- The month’s surplus is invoiced at the same price; payment follows the contract’s terms.
- Excluded from the settlement price the law names VAT, transmission, distribution, system services, cogeneration, green certificates, excise, the supply component and imbalance costs.
- Until when quantity compensation runs until 31 December 2030.
Law 160/2026, art. I points 1 and 3 (art. 3 point 23¹ and art. 73¹(3) of Law 123/2012).
So the “one for one” compensation covers only the energy part of the price. Network tariffs and taxes are paid on everything drawn from the grid. A kWh used straight in the house, without passing through the grid, saves the full price, taxes included. The settlement price follows from each supplier’s offer, and they differ widely:
| Supplier and offer | Pays per delivered kWh | How the offer arrives at it |
|---|---|---|
| Hidroelectrica, Viitor Hidro | 0.515 lei | active-energy price, without TG |
| Electrica Furnizare, Serviciu Universal, prosumatori | 0.593 lei | 0.79545 minus the supply component (0.18572) and estimated imbalances (0.017) |
| Premier Energy, SU Prosumator | 0.216 lei | acquisition component, without TG; the 0.72 lei supply component is left out |
Standard offers for household prosumers, valid in October 2026, before VAT and tariffs. TG is the transmission tariff for feeding power into the grid.
#Who pays the difference
The supplier receives a kWh made at midday and pays for it at the settlement price. On the exchange a solar kWh was worth 0.45 lei on average between 1 January and 25 October 2026. Against that average, the October offers pay 0.07 lei more at Hidroelectrica and 0.15 lei more at Electrica; at Premier Energy the prosumer gets 0.23 lei less. In October alone, though, a solar kWh was worth 0.86 lei, above all three. The differences show the order of magnitude, not suppliers’ real costs, since they also buy and sell power under their own contracts.
In 2025 prosumers delivered 1,475 GWh under quantity compensation (ANRE). At exchange prices those kWh were worth about 457 million lei, if they were spread over the months like all deliveries ANRE reports and over the hours like published solar output. Every 10 bani (0.10 lei) per kWh paid above market value adds up, at 2025 volume, to about 148 million lei a year. What suppliers paid in total is not published.
When the price paid exceeds market value, the supplier bears the difference first. The president of the suppliers’ association AFEER, Laurențiu Urluescu, estimated in July 2026 an extra cost of 200–350 lei per MWh injected and said it is “socialised”, meaning recovered from other customers. That is the suppliers’ estimate, not a cost published by ANRE.
ANRE published the second phase of its draft rules for the new law on 21 September 2026, with comments due by 1 October. The prosumers’ association APCE has said it will ask for the order to be suspended if the rules are not changed.
#What a battery changes
On the exchange, energy moved from midday to evening is worth more. A kWh taken from the sunny hours and sold between 18:00 and 22:00 would have earned another 0.36 lei on an average day in 2025, after losing 10% in charging and discharging. It came out ahead on 95% of days. That is a difference in market value, before the battery’s cost; the calculator weights it by the chosen system’s monthly output.
On the bill, though, with the three fixed-price offers above, the hour a kWh enters the grid does not change the price paid; dynamic-price contracts are settled differently. After 2030 the law sets one price per month. A battery changes the bill in another way: a kWh kept and used at home in the evening is not bought from the grid, so no tariffs or taxes are paid on it.
#What changes after 2030
From 2031 the law as it stands no longer provides quantity compensation. Prosumers may sell their energy to the supplier at the weighted average PZU price of the month it was produced.
The month’s average includes the dear evening hours, not only the sunny ones. Applied to the 2025 monthly deliveries ANRE reports, the formula would have paid 0.51 lei per kWh on average, while a solar kWh was worth 0.31 lei on the exchange. So the rule would pay more than the midday hours are worth. How large the gap will be then depends on prices this page does not forecast.
The years in short
| Year | A solar kWh on the exchange | An average kWh | Volume-weighted price | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 0.25 lei | 0.24 lei | 0.25 lei | 104% |
| 2020 | 0.18 lei | 0.19 lei | 0.20 lei | 92% |
| 2021 | 0.50 lei | 0.55 lei | 0.54 lei | 90% |
| 2022 | 1.30 lei | 1.31 lei | 1.33 lei | 100% |
| 2023 | 0.41 lei | 0.51 lei | 0.54 lei | 80% |
| 2024 | 0.34 lei | 0.51 lei | 0.55 lei | 66% |
| 2025 | 0.32 lei | 0.55 lei | 0.58 lei | 60% |
| 2026* | 0.45 lei | 0.70 lei | 0.71 lei | 64% |
* 2026: 1 January – 25 October 2026.
#Method
Prices: OPCOM’s daily day-ahead (PZU) results, 1 January 2019 – 25 October 2026, 2,857 files. OPCOM numbers each delivery day’s intervals from 00:00 Central European time, so interval 1 starts at 01:00 Romanian time; every interval was placed on the UTC axis. From 1 October 2025, 15-minute intervals were averaged to hours. The page does not republish the raw prices.
The shape of the sunny hours: Romania’s solar output published by ENTSO-E through Energy-Charts (Fraunhofer ISE, CC BY 4.0). The series gives the shape of the day, not all rooftop output. Panels on houses follow the same sun.
Value of a solar kWh over a period = sum of (price × solar output) for every hour ÷ total solar output. Average kWh = plain mean of the hours. The annual ratio mixes two effects: midday against the rest of the day, and summer against the rest of the year. The day-by-day ratio keeps only the first.
System output: PVGIS 5.3 (the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre) for each city, 1 kWp, optimal tilt and orientation, 14% losses. It is a year of ordinary weather, not the real weather of the month picked.
The contract energy price (default 0.515 lei/kWh, Hidroelectrica’s October 2026 offer, before VAT and tariffs) varies by supplier; enter the one from your offer, without the supply component and imbalances. The calculation counts all output as delivered to the grid. The exchange value of what prosumers delivered in 2025 uses ANRE’s monthly quantities and each month’s solar kWh value. The monthly weighted average uses PZU traded volumes, as the law requires for after 2030.
Battery: for each day, the 18:00–22:00 average times 0.9, minus that day’s solar kWh value. The page describes market values and rules; it does not recommend an investment.
#Sources
- OPCOM, Romanian day-ahead market (PZU): clearing price and volume for every interval, daily reports 1 January 2019 – 25 October 2026
- Energy-Charts (Fraunhofer ISE), public power generation in Romania, “Solar” series, ENTSO-E data, CC BY 4.0
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, PVGIS 5.3: output of a photovoltaic system, by city
- Law 160/2026 amending Law 123/2012 on electricity and natural gas (text sent for promulgation, PL-x 605/2023, Romanian)
- ANRE, prosumers at 31 August 2026 (Romanian)
- ANRE, draft prosumer methodology, second phase, September 2026 (Romanian)
- ANRE, prosumer monitoring report for 2025: energy delivered by month (table 4) and monthly weighted PZU price (table 1) (Romanian)
- Hidroelectrica, Viitor Hidro standard household offer, October 2026 (Romanian)
- Electrica Furnizare, universal-service offer for household prosumers, 1 October – 31 December 2026 (Romanian)
- Premier Energy, SU Prosumator standard offer, October 2026 (Romanian)
- APCE, 24 August 2026: the prosumers’ association on ANRE’s rules (Romanian)
- Economedia, 24 July 2026: AFEER’s president on the cost of compensation (Romanian)
- Renewable Value Atlas: Romanian solar capture price and rate, 2021–2025 (a separate series of the same measure)
- Electricity is no longer cheap at night: Romania’s power price hour by hour, 2019–2026