Bulgaria regulator approves 2.56% hike in electricity prices for household consumers
Bulgaria’s Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) has approved an increase in electricity prices by an average of 2.56 per cent for household consumers. The new price will apply for the next 12-month regulatory period that starts on July 1 and runs until June 30 2026,.
This increase only applies to the regulated segment of the market, which currently covers household consumers. Bulgaria has repeatedly postponed the full liberalisation of the electricity market in recent years, with Parliament in May voting to postpone indefinitely the liberalisation of the household consumers segment, which was due to take place on July 1.
EWRC’s ruling will result in consumers in western Bulgaria, including capital city Sofia, serviced by Elektrohold, paying 1.82 per cent more. Household consumers serviced by EVN in southern Bulgaria would pay 3.6 per cent more and customers of Energo-Pro in northern Bulgaria would see their bills go up by 2.52 per cent.
EWRC head Plamen Mladenovski was keen to point out that the increase was lower than the originally calculated average of 4.62 per cent, in part by reducing margins for last-mile suppliers, lower grid fees and also lower electricity costs paid by last-mile suppliers for bulk deliveries of electricity for the year ahead, purchased on the free market.
He said that the average increase for the next 12 months was lower than the price hikes recorded in mid-2023 and mid-2022, which were 4.7 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively.
Mladenovski did not mention 2024, when the regulator initially approved an increase of only 1.77 per cent. However, half-way into the 12-month regulatory period, EWRC raised prices by 8.42 per cent starting January 1, for the remaining six months of the regulatory period, citing a projected increase in baseload price of electricity.
In a separate decision, the regulator said that it approved an increase in central heating prices by an average of 4.54 per cent for the next 12 months. Customers in capital city Sofia would pay 5.96 per cent more, in Plovdiv 5.18 per cent more, in Varna one per cent more and in Bourgas 4.99 per cent more.
(Photo: Petr Kovar/freeimages.com)
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