Romanians could buy gas directly from Romgaz after 1 April 2027, if the present administered-price measures are not extended. That is not a date carved in stone: chief executive Răzvan Popescu told Mediafax, as Forbes reports, that the launch for households and small non-household clients hangs on the expiry of the ordinance that fixes prices and allocated volumes. The company is state-controlled, through the Energy Ministry, with 70 per cent of the shares.

To sell at the meter, Romgaz set up a supply directorate in 2025. Hiring stopped in the last days of last year. “We have restarted the contests. We now have about 70 per cent of the staff we need,” Popescu said. The directorate’s headcount is about 120. That does not mean the remaining 30 per cent is already in the yard; it means the roster still has to be filled before offers, contracts, bills and a call-centre.

The freeze came from emergency ordinance 89/2025, the “little train”: in 2026, state firms may not swell headcount or pay versus 2025 unless the government signs a memorandum. On 18 September the cabinet granted the waiver. Forbes and Mediafax put on the same paper the filling of 270 vacant posts out of 529 left at the end of 2025, for supply and for Iernut, with a wage impact put at about 12.3 million lei in 2026.

Separately, the same package speaks of taking on 860 Azomureș staff after the deal closes, with an impact of about 49 million lei from September to December 2026. That is chemicals, not a household gas bill. We do not mix the two arms: one prepares retail, the other the plant.

Entering the household market would mean a contract with the country’s largest producer, not only a regulated allocation through other suppliers. Popescu repeated the same theoretical date as early as September: 1 April 2027. If the government extends the cap, the date moves. Forbes is plain that the real pace also depends on internal preparation, not only on what is in the Official Gazette.

We do not have, from these texts, an offer price for April 2027, nor a count of signed customers. The restarted contests are a staffing step, not an open counter. Until then, household gas stays under the present rules.

Image: ZARAKA Z, historic centre, Mediaș, 13 October 2022, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Not the Romgaz offices.

Sources consulted: Românii ar putea cumpăra gaze direct de la Romgaz din aprilie 2027. Compania a reluat angajările — Forbes.ro; Romgaz a reluat concursurile de angajare pentru a putea începe furnizarea către populație — Mediafax.