CPC: Higher Electricity Bills Unrelated to Euro Adoption

“We have received reports of inflated electricity bills. Particularly over the past two days, we have seen a surge in complaints. To put it in perspective, since the start of the year we have had a total of 80 reports, but just yesterday and the day before, we received 70 alone,” said Aleksandar Koliachev, Acting Head of the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), during a live interview on Denyat Zapochnva (“The Day Begins”) on BNT on February 6.

He explained that it is positive that people are submitting complaints to the CPC, as the Commission then forwards them to the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission, which is the competent authority in these cases.

“The usual procedure is that if there is an issue with an electricity bill, the consumer should first contact the relevant distribution company. Only if they receive a negative response should they escalate the matter to utilities watchdog - SEWRC. We do not have the authority to resolve these cases ourselves,” Koliachev added.

“Our powers in this sector are quite limited,” he said. “We can only review the complaints and redirect them to the competent authority.”

He also noted that comparing current bills with those from January, assuming similar temperatures, might be the correct approach to assess any discrepancies.

Koliachev was clear that these reports of higher bills are unrelated to Bulgaria’s recent euro adoption.

He explained that the causes are either higher electricity consumption or a technical error.