Electricity companies kept to rules on billing periods – energy minister
Checks of energy distribution companies had established that in more than 99 per cent of cases, the companies kept to the rule that the billing period could not be longer than 31 days, Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said.
The investigation was ordered in late 2014 after allegations that energy distribution companies had been exceeding the mandatory billing period.
Electricity bills are a sensitive political issue in Bulgaria, in particular for the current government led by Prime Minister Boiko Borissov. In early 2013, Borissov resigned as PM after an incident of violence in Sofia during protests mobilised around electricity bills.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on January 7 2015, Petkova said that meter readings made anywhere between 32 and 35 days accounted for less than one per cent of cases, which was a good performance.
“We have good communication with distribution companies. I informed them that this type of monitoring will be carried out by the Ministry of Energy on a monthly basis,” Petkova said.
She said that the companies had fulfilled their commitment to ensure that meter readings were taken during the weekends.
(Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
