The Prime Minister of Romania extends thanks to the public and industry for lowering energy demand.
Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, in a meeting with major energy suppliers/ Photo: gov.ro
Ştefan Stoica,
05.08.2026, 14:00
With the Danube at a historic low, disrupting operations at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, along with critically low river flows due to the lack of rain and a wave of severe weather alerts announcing scorching days, authorities in Bucharest have declared an energy alert for the entire month of August. Romania now relies on imports to meet a third of its electricity needs.
Against this backdrop, acting Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan held a working meeting with major energy suppliers, mainly to identify solutions in order to ensure market liquidity and encourage large industrial consumers to voluntarily cut back on power usage. In fact, the two largest car manufacturers in Romania, Dacia and Ford, have already announced temporary shutdowns. At the same time, the Prime Minister agreed with the National Energy Regulatory Authority to fast-track approvals and issue all necessary documents for advanced-stage projects, to commission new production capacities as quickly as possible.
He thanked citizens and businesses for stepping up to reduce energy consumption these days, emphasizing that every single saving helps ease the pressure on the national grid. Bolojan reiterated that the government will soon pass a decision to enforce legal mechanisms if voluntary cutbacks fail to cover peak hour electricity demand.
“Large industrial consumers could receive a 24 hour notice to temporarily limit consumption, depending on the specifics of their activity and the capacity of the National Energy System. This is a reserve mechanism that we are preparing to use only as a last resort” the acting Prime Minister explained.
Also on Tuesday, Ilie Bolojan participated in a working meeting that focused on the situation at Cernavodă, driven by the critically low levels of the Danube. Following a spectacular operation of blowing up a rock to partially redirect the Danube and boost water flow to the plant, dredging and clearing operations continued. Our goal, the Prime Minister underlined, is to maximize the uptime of Unit 2 of the nuclear power plant, because every extra day of operation means an increase in energy for the National Energy System.
Government representatives also met with Romania’s fuel suppliers and distributors. A nationwide assessment shows the supply disruptions registered in recent weeks are nearly resolved, meaning no fuel shortages are expected for domestic consumers, agriculture and transporters. (DV)
