Bulgaria utilities regulator raises gas prices by 5.5% for September 2026
Bulgaria’s utilities regulator said on August 31 that it approved a 5.5 per cent decrease in the regulated gas price in the country for the month of September, setting the new price at 41.6 euro a MWh, excluding transportation costs, excise and value-added tax.
The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) said that despite the increase, the regulated price of natural gas in Bulgaria was about 25 euro lower than prices on European gas markets, which it attributed to the “competitive pricing” of Azeri gas.
Bulgaria has a long-term contract with Azerbaijan, receiving gas via pipelines transiting Turkey and Greece, which is tied to oil prices, rather than spot prices on gas hubs.
That is the main source of natural gas for the country, since Russia’s Gazprom unilaterally halted deliveries in 2022. State-owned gas company Bulgargaz supplements the Azeri gas with liquefied natural gas (LNG) via the Alexandroupolis terminal in northern Greece.
The price increase was the third in as many months, and put September’s gas price well above the price in the same month of 2025, when it was 60.52 leva a MWh, or 30.94 euro a MWh.
EWRC said that forecasts were for elevated gas prices throughout autumn, due to the low levels of gas in European storage facilities ahead of winter, currently estimated to be at about 62 per cent to 63 per cent. The regulator did not say to what extent Bulgaria’s own gas storage in Chiren is filled.
(Photo: Marco Caliulo/sxc.hu)
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