Water Regulation

A final decision is expected Tuesday at the state energy regulator DKEVR about the price hike in electricity to be enforced on October 1.

The increase is likely to be of 10 percent, according to preliminary estimates and also to numerous statements recently made by DKEVR officials.

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.

Electricity prices for the industry in Bulgaria are 20-30% higher than in Greece, which imports electricity from Bulgaria, according to Konstantin Stamenov from the Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers (BFIEC).

Power prices will go up by up to 10% as of October 1, according to a media statement of Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR).

Svetla Todorova, who was appointed DKEVR Chair on September 1, explained Wednesday that there would be no increase in heating rates despite the gas price hike request submitted by state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz.

The Bulgarian energy regulator DKEVR is to have a new Chair on Wednesday as the Council of Ministers is expected to approve a new head at its regular session.

Svetla Todorova, a former State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) member, is tipped to assume the office, daily Sega reports.

A power price hike as of October 1 is unavoidable, according to Elenko Bozhkov, member of Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR).

The inevitability of an increase in electricity prices was echoed by caretaker Finance Minister Rumen Porozhanov, who suggested that the deficit incurred as a result of the inconsistent policy of DKEVR had to be compensated.

Seven ambassadors have expressed concern in a letter to the Bulgarian Parliament Speaker over restrictions proposed by the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR).

The letter, signed by the ambassadors of Austria, UK, the Republic of Korea, US, France, the Czech Republic, and Japan, was submitted to Parliament on June 30, according to reports of Sega daily.

Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) will present Thursday current data on the financial deficit in the energy system.

Bulgaria's state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz has warned that a gas price cut will put it into a difficult financial situation.

Alexander Petrov, head of a department of Bulgargaz, presented the opinion of the company on the gas price cut proposal of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) at an open sitting of DKEVR on gas prices as of July 1, 2014.

Bulgaria's energy watchdog has sent two complaints to the European Commission concerning unlawful State aid to two US-owned thermal power plants and to renewable energy producers.