Bulgaria's Energy Strategy Due by End-February - Minister

Bulgaria's Minister of Economy and Energy Dragomir Stoynev, photo by BGNES

Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev has vowed that Bulgaria's energy strategy will be ready by end-February.

Speaking Friday at a sitting of the public council on energy with the Minister of Economy and Energy, Stoynev explained that the main goal of the strategy was to outline the development of the different types of energy sources.

He informed that the strategy would be open to public discussion and it would reach Parliament only in the case of consensus.

Stoynev, as cited by the BGNES news agency, reminded the liabilities of heating utility Toplofikatsia Sofia to the National Electric Company (NEK) and the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) amounted to over BGN 0.5 B.

"We exert pressure on them and at the same time Toplofikatsiya Sofia produces heat, sells electricity and sends out bills which I find very worrying," Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister added.

Stoynev suggested that electricity prices would remain unchanged by the end of 2014, adding that the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) saw no reasons for an increase in power rates for household or industrial customers, but he did not commit to a forecast about the price of natural gas in the next quarter.

During the sitting, Vladimir Topalov, Chair of the miners' trade union at the Podkrepa Labor Confederation, noted that 90% of the inert materials used in the construction of the Struma motorway were illegal.

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