Energy Watchdog Chair: Power Price Hike by over 10% Is Socially Unacceptable

Svetla Todorova, Chair of Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), photo by BGNES

Svetla Todorova, Chair of Bulgaria’s State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), has suggested that a 10% power price hike as of October 1 is the socially tolerable limit.

In a Monday interview for the morning broadcast of bTV, she claimed that there were preconditions for a price hike of up to 50% but such a move was socially unacceptable and nobody was likely to come up with such a proposal.

Todorova clarified that a power price hike of up to 50% would mean that the authorities had decided that all of the deficits in the energy system, most notably the debts of the National Electricity Company (NEK), could be covered through higher electricity prices.

The DKEVR Chair added that such a scenario would mean that the state had abdicated its responsibility in the sphere.

Speaking ahead of a final decision on power tariffs scheduled for Tuesday, she emphasized that electricity prices would most probably increase by 10% as of October 1, in line with the decision of DKEVR.