New Increase of Prices of Natural Gas, Heating and Hot Water as of June

There are two main reasons for this - the high prices of the natural gas that Bulgaria imports and the increase of oil prices on international markets.

A meeting of the Chairpersons of the Energy Parliamentary Committees in the countries of the European Union was held on 14th of May in Sofia within the framework of the Bulgarian Presidency.

The meeting discussed two main issues - the high price of natural gas in Eastern Europe compared to the Western Europe and the lack of different sources of supply of the ‘blue fuel’. According to Brussels, the European Union pays nearly half a trillion euros for imports of energy fuel every year. Bulgaria is among the countries that import over 90% of the natural gas in Bulgaria from one source - Russia.

It is the price increase of the Russian gas, which is the reason for the new price increase requested from June 1. Because of this increase, the state owned "Bulgargas" insists on the gas price rise by nearly 16%. This in turn will result in increased prices of goods and services, including the hot water and heating.

Ivan Ivanov, Chair of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission: Naturally, if the price of crude oil stays at these levels, this leads to a price increase of liquid fuels, which all Bulgarian petrol and diesel consumers find when they fill their cars with fuel, but along with this, the price of natural gas for these companies and end consumers will increase. They consume natural gas directly, as well as the price of the energy products of the cogenerations - the Bulgarian district heating companies, which produce heat and electricity energy.

Katarina Sikov-Magni, Directorate General for Energy of the EC: We are still very dependent on one source of natural gas supply, which leads to higher prices for consumers, both citizens and businesses. We realize that if this region has access to natural gas at comparable prices to those in Western Europe, it can save Euro 4 billion per year.

Ivan Ivanov also said that in a case like the one with a high import price, the energy regulator can do nothing but increase the local prices.

Bulgaria’s energy minister is in Russia to visit Atomexpo. Today, she told reporters that by the end of the week the ministry is ready to submit a proposal to the National Assembly to resume the construction of Belene Nuclear Plant Project.

Only after that investors can be sought for the project. A special invitation will be sent to the French company Areva, which has reaffirmed its interest in the project. At present, interest in the power plant has been expressed by the largest Chinese nuclear company and the European Investment Bank.