Bulgargaz

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva said on Thursday that she is concerned by the information she has received from struggling households and called on Bulgaria's interim government to focus on swift action to financially support domestic customers of natural gas and companies using gas to heat residential buildings.

Bulgaria has received several offers for the supply of natural gas, which do not require the country to look for a slot for its unloading, as this is provided by the trader. There is also an offer for direct delivery. Thus, the caretaker government will have no commitment to look for a natural gas unloading terminal.

The caretaker government is changing the entire management team of "Bulgargaz", bTV reports, referring to an application filed in the Commercial Register. The news was confirmed by the spokesman of the cabinet, Anton Kutev.

"Bulgargaz" EAD informs its customers that the estimated price of natural gas for October 2022 is BGN 269.29 per megawatt hour (without access, transmission, excise and VAT) or EUR 137.69 per MWh, calculated according to the fixing of the BNB.

In order to fill the liquidity hole in "Bulgargaz", loans will also be sought from private banks. This was announced by the Caretaker Minister of Energy, Rosen Hristov. Today, the government decided to grant an 800 million BGN loan from the company's budget, and expects it to pay it back as quickly as possible by taking loans from other institutions.

"We will prepare a plan to stabilize Bulgargaz. In order for the company to be able to pay the actual contracted quantities of gas". This was stated by acting Prime Minister Galab Donev.

"We are not closing the Gazprom chapter as long as there are guarantees that there will be no risks for Bulgargaz if the conditions change."

This is what the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bulgargaz, Ivan Topchiyski, told Nova today. The state company is a public supplier and is responsible for the security of receiving blue fuel in Bulgaria.

"For now, the price of thermal energy set on July 1 remains unchanged, but if there is a dramatic change in the price of components and natural gas, it is possible to get it updated on January 1 next year."

Natural gas to rise in price by 32% retroactively from July 1, decided the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) in a closed session.

The open meeting at EWRC lasted only 5 minutes, at which the requested increase by "Bulgargaz" of the blue fuel retroactively from July 1st by 32% or BGN 186 per megawatt-hour was to be discussed.

Starting today, Bulgaria will start receiving the entire quantities of natural gas under the contract with Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Energy informed BNR. However, this will not happen through the Bulgarian-Greek gas connection, but at the temporary delivery point Nea Mesimvria. The interconnector is expected to be ready in the fall, according to the ministry's response.