Liberalization

The government is expected to submit a new multi-bill to Parliament on Friday featuring some of the so-called prior actions that Greece must implement to unlock the next tranche of 2.8 billion euros in rescue loans.

Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova is predicting a possible decrease in the prices of electricity due to the falling prices of natural gas.

In an interview for the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) on Friday, Petkova said that the expected decrease in the price of natural gas is slightly above 20 %.

Vulnerable energy consumers amount to 30 percent - or nearly a third - of the Bulgarian population, the country's Energy Minister has said.

Attending a workgroup in Brussels dedicated to energy poverty, Temenuzhka Petkova has explained changes will be brought to the model determining which consumers are vulnerable.

"For too long Bulgaria and other countries of the region have been concentrating on large scale pipeline projects such as South Stream and have left behind the development of important regional infrastructure, notably interconnections with neighbouring countries," Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, Director Internal Energy Market at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy

The forthcoming liberalization of the energy market in Bulgaria is likely to lead to an increase in the prices of the electricity in the country.

This was stated by Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) on Sunday.

The participants in a discussion on Bulgaria's energy exchange agreed that legal amendments were to pave the way for a change of the model so that the full liberalization of the market was achieved by the beginning of 2016.

Bulgaria's government is preparing the full liberalization of the energy market, which is expected to solve the financial problems of the sector and guarantee a fair price for household and industrial consumers, according to Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova.

The World Bank will draft a comprehensive review of the financial state of Bulgaria's energy sector and identify steps towards full liberalization of the electricity market by the end of the year under a deal signed on Friday.

Ivan Ivanov, Chair of Bulgaria's Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, has underscored that EU law entitles large industrial enterprises to discounts on the "obligation to society" surcharge included in electricity prices.

Electricity generated for exports and for the domestic market should be equally levied with the "liabilities to society" tax, Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova has said.