NEWS FOCUS: From today, the cap on electricity will disappear. Trends in online chat
As of today, July 1, there is no longer a cap on electricity prices, while for gas prices it will remain in place until spring 2026. The timing is an important one, preceded in recent weeks by both reactions and explanations from the authorities on what is to come, as well as analysis in the media and from expert organizations on possible scenarios for consumers.
The high degree of concern about the level to which prices could rise in the coming months was also reflected in the relevant online sources in Romania. According to data analyzed and aggregated with the help of NewsVibe, a software for real-time analysis of online topics, in the last month there were over 800 mentions exclusively focused on the issue of energy price caps, with an estimated impact of over 20 million views.
As can be seen from the graph below, the most visible moments for this topic were when the authorities communicated about measures that could be taken to further protect the most vulnerable consumers - in particular the announcements by the former Ministers of Labor and Energy, as well as the new Minister of Energy (for whom the capping issue is the first big challenge of his new mandate).
Grafic NewsVibe. Changes in the number of mentions of energy price caps and their total impact over the last month
Predominant sources
The top sources writing most frequently in the last month about the energy price cap are dominated by news sources (websites and Facebook pages), generalist sources as well as those with an economic profile. Of these, the Adevărul, România TV and Profit.ro websites stand out, each with over 20 mentions, as well as the Capital România, Digi24, Adevărul, Fanatik.ro and Realitatea.NET Facebook pages, which each had over 10 mentions related to this topic.
Grafic NewsVibe. Top relevant web sources that covered the energy price cap in the last month
Top keywords mentioned
The top words most frequently mentioned in relation to the topic of interest, in articles and social media posts, include Romania, the names of former ministers Sebastian Burduja and Simona Bucura Oprescu, the names of the ministries involved in establishing protective measures for vulnerable consumers (Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Labor), the regulator (ANRE), and some companies active on the energy market (Hidroelectrica, PPC).
There are also less frequent associations with the name of the new Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, with the Government, and with July (when the electricity price cap was lifted).
Grafic NewsVibe. Top entities mentioned in the context of mentions of energy price caps in the last month
Evaluating the tone of communication
The NewsVibe platform has created an advanced sentiment analysis system that uses artificial intelligence, specially trained algorithms, and LLM-like language models to detect nuances of tone - favorable, unfavorable, or neutral - in the context of references to entities relevant to an online conversation.
Grafic NewsVibe. Automatically assessing the tone of online conversation about energy price caps in the last month
Although in general the conversational context in which the topic was mentioned was neutral and focused on factual-descriptive approaches, there was still a significant proportion of negative mentions. The removal of the cap creates a social and economic context marked by uncertainties and fears about rising energy prices in the near future.
The issue is a source of pressure both on government authorities and on the budgets of companies and citizens, and the debate around it is expected to intensify in the coming period, with an increasingly polarized tone.
Emoji and hashtags
The most commonly used emoji in Facebook posts symbolize the idea of energy, increasing (prices), alertness, awe or breaking news. There are also symbols reflecting the idea of goal achieved.
Grafic NewsVibe. Top emoji used on Facebook in conversations about energy price caps in the last month
The most used hashtags in Facebook posts on the topic of interest are #capping, #energy, #romania, #energieelectrica, #facturienergie, #saracieenergetica, showing the significant presence of the topic in news stories promoted on Facebook.
Grafic NewsVibe. Top hashtags used on Facebook in conversations about energy price caps in the last month
The topic of lifting the energy price cap remains a sensitive and highly polarizing one, with a direct impact on public perception and trust in the authorities.
Discussions and concerns about price hikes are expected to continue and intensify, fueled by the difficult social and economic economic context.
*****Summary compiled using a monitoring feed provided by NewsVibe Romania. The analysis, data and images presented were enhanced with Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.
