Power Rates in Bulgaria to Remain Unchanged for 2 Years

Yavor Kuyumdzhiev, MP of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Energy Committee, photo by BGNES

Yavor Kuyumdzhiev, Deputy Chair of the parliamentary energy committee, has assured that Bulgaria's new electricity pricing model is sustainable and will remain in place for at least two years.

"If no catastrophic events such as a 9-month war in Syria take place, there should be no jolts," Kuyumdzhiev said in a Tuesday interview for Capital Daily.

He made clear that the energy committee had prepared a bill amending the Energy Act which was to be tabled for discussion in Parliament by the end of the week.

Prior to the start of the summer recess of MPs on August 7, the Energy Act underwent substantial changes.

Commenting on the proposed set of amendments, Kuyumdzhiev explained that a power supply cutoff would only be allowed if the customer had failed to pay bills for over two months and the debt exceeded the minimum monthly wage.

He also informed that power distributors would be under obligation to send prior written notice to the customer in the case of a forthcoming power supply cutoff.

Kuyumdzhiev also mentioned a proposal to abolish the power supply recovery fee.

He made clear that the only expenses of power distributors in such cases was the gasoline for the two-way trip to the customer, stressing that the companies used this fee to make profits.

"According to my information, power supply cutoffs and power grid reconnections on the entire territory of the country amount to BGN 50-60 000 per month. We will deprive them of revenues of around BGN 12 M a year," the Deputy Chair of the parliamentary energy committee stated, adding that the step was not likely to scare off power distributors, taking into account their solid revenues from other activities.

He also told journalists that the amendments envisaged allowing customers to demand an inspection of the electricity meter by an independent laboratory at the expense of the power distributor in the case of a 30% difference between monthly electricity bills.

He said that the statutory regulations concerning the establishment of a mediation body in the sphere of energy were yet to be discussed.

He also mentioned that the proposed changes to the Energy Act provided for increasing the deadline for claiming damages in the case of unstable and substandard power supply from 3 months to 3 years.

Asked whether the proposed legal changes would not cause new deficits at power distributors, he said that power distributors had had a guaranteed rate of return of 16% for five years, after which the percentage had been downsized to 12% for 4 years, meaning that in 9 years the cumulative rate of return had been over 150%.

"Have you heard of anything other than drugs, prostitution, or gambling which has such a high rate of return, and a guaranteed one, at that?" he stressed.

Kuyumdzhiev emphasized that power distributors could be brought to their knees "in three days" through hefty fines, adding that the state had no such goals and it only aimed to achieve normality and guarantee the protection of the interests of Bulgarian citizens.

The Deputy Chair of the parliamentary energy committee was confident that the drafting of the new energy strategy would make it obvious that Bulgaria would certainly need a new nuclear power plant by 2025.

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