As Europe saves energy, some Romanians have little to unplug

In the quiet Romanian village of Vasilati, where most houses are heated with wood, people worry about their power bills even though Romanians consume the least electricity per capita in the European Union and many have cut back use all they can.

Georgeta Ichim, a 67-year-old pensioner and widow, lives alone in a sparsely lit house with wood logs stacked neatly by her door next to a fig tree. She mostly uses one room in her old house, which saves on heating.

"I only have the TV, the fridge and a lamp," she said, dressed in a flower-patterned housecoat. "I am careful."

The European Union is asking states to save on energy, to trim costs and avoid shortages in the incoming heating season to address cuts in gas supplies from Russia.

Romanian state institutions are making cuts. Some counties are reducing school hours and the Romanian parliament, the second-largest building in the world after the U.S. Pentagon has reduced outdoor lighting to two hours per night.

But many people in villages like Vasilati and non-affluent city neighbourhoods have little room to cut back. More than 40% of Romania's 19 million people live in the countryside, many relying on subsistence agriculture on small plots of land, seasonal jobs abroad or commuting into cities.

Eurostat data showed Romanians had the lowest power consumption per capita in the EU at less than half the average in 2020. Nevertheless, despite this low base, Romanians' overall household electricity consumption has fallen 7.7% in the first eight months of this year as people try to cope with rising power prices, double-digit inflation and soaring food costs.

Ichim did not share how much her power bill was, but a woman living nearby in a similar home said she paid about 150 lei ($29.92) for two months. Other villagers whose power consumption was driven higher by pumps and boilers said their bill doubled to roughly 3,000 lei ($597.73).

Ichim's power consumption is low enough to fit into a government scheme that caps power and gas bills for households and other users up to certain monthly consumption levels. The state compensates suppliers for the difference since November 2021. Parts of the scheme help encourage people to consume less.

Across the street from Ichim lives 57-year old Tudorel Dedu, who collects scrap with a horse and carriage and takes jobs as a day labourer. His home also has few electric appliances - a television, fridge, freezer, a few light bulbs. Feeding his horse, cow, pigs, chickens and ducks has become more expensive, he said.

"I don't have land to grow on, I have to buy (animal feed), and I take day jobs," Dedu said. "What can we do, we carry on, as they say."