The financial guarantee for grid connection: 5%, 20% and the dates that matter

Two guarantees, two rates

Article 31 (1) of the regulation says when the network operator asks for a financial guarantee in its favour for issuing the ATR: for a new production site or a new consumption and production site, including those equipped with storage installations, for storage installations connected individually and for approving a power increase, if the total approved power for export and/or for consumption at that site exceeds 1 MW. This guarantee is constituted before the ATR is issued (paragraph (5)). The rate is set in paragraph (3¹):

In English: the guarantee provided for in paragraph (1) is 20% of the connection tariff excluding VAT.

Paragraph (2) concerns a new consumption site, or a power increase, that brings the total approved power for consumption above 1 MW. Here the guarantee is required through the ATR, and only if reinforcement works on the electricity network upstream of the connection point are needed: both conditions must be met together. It is 5% of the connection tariff excluding VAT (article 31 (3)).

What changed on 25 May 2026. Until then, the regulation had a single rate for both situations:

In English: the guarantee provided for in paragraphs (1) and (2) is 5% of the connection tariff.

ANRE Order 15/2026 moved the situation in paragraph (1) to the new 20% rate, left paragraph (3) for paragraph (2) only and added “fără TVA” (excluding VAT) to both. It also changed the threshold in paragraph (1): it used to be the total approved power “pentru evacuare” (for export), and it is now the power “pentru evacuare și/sau pentru consum” (for export and/or for consumption). The same order expressly named storage installations connected individually, which the old form of paragraph (1) did not mention. Paragraph (2) was left unchanged.

For a consumption and production site, the new threshold can also be reached through the power approved for consumption. The text does not say which paragraph applies when such a site seems to fall within both situations. For a buyer, the classification of the site is therefore a question to put to the operator, not a rule to apply. Both powers are read at point 2 of the ATR, in the unit in which they are written. kW and kVA are not the same quantity, and a value expressed only in kVA should not be treated as if it were kW. Article 31 expresses the threshold in MW, but does not explain in this text how the threshold applies when the ATR states the relevant power only as apparent power.

The dates that matter

Which guarantee is required, how much and by when depends on a few dates. The date of the ATR, on its own, does not set the rate.

In English: article 31 (3¹) of the regulation, as introduced by this order, does not apply to requests for which the network operator had communicated to the user, up to the date this order enters into force, the value of the financial guarantee under article 18 (4) of the same regulation.

The order says only that the 20% rate does not apply to these requests. It does not say expressly which rate applies instead: paragraph (3) in its new form concerns only the guarantee in paragraph (2), and before 25 May 2026 paragraph (3) set a 5% rate for the guarantee in paragraph (1) as well. So 5% is the relevant previous rate, but applying it to the excepted requests follows from interpreting the transitional provision, not from a rate written expressly in article V (1).

Why not the date of the ATR: in the situation in paragraph (1), the guarantee is constituted before the ATR is issued (article 31 (5)), and the operator sends the ATR within no more than 10 calendar days of the date on which the holder sent the proof that it was constituted (article 26 (3)). The value was, as a rule, communicated before that, together with the solution study. A hypothetical example: an ATR issued in June 2026 may concern a request whose value had been communicated in April 2026, to which the 20% rate does not apply (article V (1)). The date of the communication should not be inferred from the date of the ATR; it is checked in the operator’s letter or communication that sent the solution study and the value of the guarantee.

What the text does not say

Article V (1) speaks only of the rate in paragraph (3¹), not of the rewritten paragraph (1). The texts we read do not answer the following questions:

• which form of paragraph (1) applies to a request whose value was communicated before 25 May 2026 but whose ATR was issued after that date;
• what triggers article V (1) where there is no solution study, since the text refers to the communication in article 18 (4), which accompanies the study;
• how article V (1) applies to a value communicated before 1 June 2025: until then, the duty to communicate the value of the guarantee together with the solution study was set out in article 26 (3), as worded by ANRE Order 53/2024; the express reference to the communication in article 18 (4) entered the regulation on 1 June 2025, through ANRE Order 20/2025;
• for a communication made on 25 May 2026 itself, the day of publication: the text says “până la data intrării în vigoare” (up to the date of entry into force) and does not say whether that day falls within this period;
• for a power increase, whether the rate applies to the whole connection tariff or only to the increase.

On the day of the check, we found no written position from ANRE or from a network operator that answers these questions. The approval report (referat de aprobare) that ANRE published for the draft order only restates the rule: the increase does not apply to requests for which the value had been communicated. For a specific case, ask the network operator for the answer in writing and confirm it with counsel.

The tariff excluding VAT

Until 25 May 2026, article 31 (3) spoke of “valoarea tarifului de racordare” (the value of the connection tariff), with no mention of VAT. From that date, the text says “valoarea fără TVA” (the value excluding VAT). Order 15/2026 also provided for a refund of guarantees already calculated:

In English: at the users’ request, network operators that calculated financial guarantees under the regulation referred to in article I on the basis of the connection tariff including VAT must refund to users the difference between the guarantee so calculated and the guarantee calculated on the connection tariff excluding VAT. The provision also applies to guarantees constituted before this order entered into force.

A guarantee calculated on the tariff including VAT therefore covers more than the minimum, and the difference can be claimed back. The refund is made at the holder’s request, and the order sets no term for it. For a buyer, the questions are on what basis the guarantee was calculated, whether the holder asked for the difference and whether it received it. All seven ATRs cited in the note on reading an ATR give the connection tariff “inclusiv TVA” (including VAT). For due diligence, the tariff excluding VAT is best checked in a document that states it, such as the connection contract or the invoice. If it is calculated from a value including VAT, the result should be treated as derived, not as a value the document states.

When it is executed and when it is returned

The operator executes the guarantee, under the connection contract, if the holder does not meet one of the obligations it took on in the contract (article 31 (6)):

• the conditions and terms for paying the connection tariff (letter a));
• building the holder’s installation and handing its file to the operator (letter b));
• the stages of the site’s development and how the approved power evolves over time (letter c));
• obtaining the building permit within the terms in the contract (letter d)); until 25 May 2026, the text spoke of the permit that “nu este transmisă operatorului de rețea” (is not sent to the network operator), and it now speaks of the one that “nu este obținută” (is not obtained);
• obtaining the establishment authorisation within the terms in article 36 (5²) and (5³), taking account of paragraphs (5⁴) to (5⁷) (letter e), new from 25 May 2026);
• 6 months after the establishment authorisation granted by ANRE ceases to be valid, if ANRE has not granted a new one in the meantime, or when the terms granted by an ANRE decision under article 33 (4) and article 36 (6³) run out (letter f), new from 25 May 2026).

Letter e) refers to the terms in article 36 (5²) and (5³), which apply to connection contracts concluded from 25 May 2026 (article V (2) of Order 15/2026). For the connection contracts in progress on that date, with a power approved for export above 1 MW, the order sets a separate term for the establishment authorisation, of no more than 12 months (article V (3)). The texts we read do not say whether letters e) and f) also concern guarantees constituted under the older contracts.

Contracts in progress on 25 May 2026 →

The guarantee is also executed when the ATR ceases to be valid in the situation in article 34 (1³), or when the holder does not sign the connection contract proposed by the operator before the term in article 33 (1) b) runs out (article 31 (7)). It ends or is returned on the final energisation of the holder’s installation, with all the technical conditions needed for the connection in place in the upstream network, if it has not been executed, or when the connection contract ends, except for termination for breach and the cases of execution in paragraph (6) (article 31 (8)). Sums collected from execution fund only reinforcement or development works on public electricity networks that are included in the operator’s approved investment plan (paragraphs (9) and (10)).

Other guarantees, not to be confused with the one in article 31

• Extending the terms for the building permit in article 36 (5) and (5¹): an additional guarantee of 5% of the connection tariff excluding VAT, lodged within no more than 5 working days of the operator’s written consent (article 36 (7) a)) and returned within 10 working days of the building permit being sent (paragraph (8)). It is added to the guarantee in article 31.
• Extending the term of the connection contract, at the holder’s request, by successive periods of 12 months: 5% of the connection tariff excluding VAT in the contract, rising by a further 5% for each 12-month period added (article 40¹ (2) and (3)). For extensions requested by the operator, for works that are its responsibility, the text does not provide for a guarantee from the holder (paragraphs (7) and (8)).
• The application for an establishment authorisation: a guarantee in ANRE’s favour, not the operator’s, constituted when the application is filed, of EUR 30 per kW of the installed electrical power in the ATR, for each generating technology, valid until acceptance on completion of the plant’s construction works; sums from its execution are paid to the state budget (article 19¹ (1), (3), (4) and (5) of ANRE Order 16/2026). It applies to authorisation applications filed after the order entered into force, with the exceptions in article II (1). Article 19¹ does not expressly address a standalone storage installation, so this text alone does not establish whether the guarantee applies to one.

Each has its own legal basis and is checked separately. A buyer should not add them up under a single percentage, nor take one as proof of another.

What the ATRs in the corpus show

None of the seven ATRs cited in the note on reading an ATR states a guarantee amount other than zero: some write “0,00 lei”, others have dashes or “nu este cazul” (not applicable). None was issued after 25 May 2026. The ATR forms from 2024 and 2025 write “din valoarea tarifului de racordare” (of the value of the connection tariff), with no mention of VAT, beside tariffs given “inclusiv TVA” (including VAT). The framework forms for the ATR, as amended by Order 15/2026, print “5% din valoarea fără TVA a tarifului de racordare” (5% of the connection tariff excluding VAT) for a consumption site and “20%” for a production site or a consumption and production site. An ATR issued after 25 May 2026 on the production form that writes 5% raises the question whether it is explained by the exception in article V (1) or by the use of an older form; we do not call it an error.

• The Vrancart ATR (13.06.2023) approves “20125,000” kW for export and writes “0,00 lei, reprezentând 0,00 %”. It was issued before 2 August 2024, and this note does not cover the text applicable then. The question for the buyer: was a guarantee required, and where is the proof that it was constituted?
• The NTN-SNR ATR (03.06.2025) is for a power increase, approves “6000,000” kW for consumption and “0,000” kW for export, and writes “0,00 lei, reprezentând 5% din valoarea tarifului de racordare”. The question: what does an amount of “0,00 lei” beside a rate of 5% mean: that no guarantee was required, or that the amount was not filled in on the ATR?

Points 8 and 10: the tariff and the guarantee →

What to request

• the solution study and the letter with which the operator sent it, with its date and the value of the guarantee communicated;
• the power approved for export and for consumption, at point 2 of the ATR, in the unit in which it is written (kW or kVA), and whether either exceeds 1 MW;
• whether the site is new, has storage installations or is a power increase, and how the operator classified it;
• for a consumption site, whether the ATR provides for reinforcement works upstream of the connection point;
• the proof that the guarantee was constituted, with its date, and its form: a bank guarantee letter, a term bank deposit or a direct payment to the operator;
• the beneficiary and validity of the guarantee letter, against the term of the connection contract;
• the connection tariff excluding VAT, from a document, and any refund request made under article V (6);
• the extensions requested under article 36 (7) or article 40¹ and their guarantees;
• if the establishment authorisation was applied for, the guarantee constituted in ANRE’s favour.

What ELARID does

ELARID records the value of the guarantee as the document writes it, with the page and the words it was read from, and does not present it as the amount the law requires. It calculates a required amount only when it knows the tariff, its basis (with or without VAT), the situation under article 31 and the dates needed to decide which text applies. When the only missing information is the date of the communication and the two rates give different amounts, it shows both scenarios and the document that would decide between them, without choosing one. For a communication dated exactly 25.05.2026, the question of which text applies remains unresolved, and ELARID does not choose the 20% rate automatically. For an ATR issued before 2 August 2024, it calculates no amount.

See how ELARID shows a project →