Photo: Bogdan Dinca
Measures to reduce energy poverty that are applied in many other EU jurisdictions - such as protecting vulnerable consumers from disconnections for nonpayment, providing social tariffs, exempting certain components of energy bills or applying pre-assigned social benefits, as well as free counseling on energy-saving arrangements - are not offered in Romania. Gabor Andorko's (81) house was disconnected a couple of years ago. An NGO from Brasov installed a small solar panel to try to provide some electricity, but the full cost — more than €2 000 — was prohibitive.