Price of Natural Gas in Bulgaria Has Risen by Nearly 33% Since Yesterday

The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) has approved a natural gas price of €58.43/MWh for November, excluding access and transmission charges, excise duty and VAT. At this price, Bulgargaz EAD will sell natural gas to end suppliers and to entities licensed to produce and transmit thermal energy. The approved price is 32.52% higher than in the previous month.

At an open meeting on 28 October this year, the utilities regulator expressed disagreement with the initially proposed price of €59.08/MWh and called on public supplier Bulgargaz to identify ways to reduce it, securing the most favourable price possible for Bulgarian consumers. “Regardless of the current extreme prices on international energy markets, which have reached €100–105/MWh, a 34% increase is unacceptable because it would come as a shock to district heating companies and the country's economy,” EWRC Chairman Plamen Mladenovski said at the meeting. Regarding household electricity and heating prices from 1 January 2027, he was categorical that the Commission currently has regulatory mechanisms in place to prevent them from rising.

Following the EWRC's call to reduce the requested sharp increase, Bulgargaz identified savings by using additional quantities of natural gas from the Chiren underground gas storage facility. Had this measure not been taken, given the latest, higher prices on the TTF exchange, the increase in November would have reached 39.37% compared with October. Had international prices remained at the levels recorded when the application was submitted on 12 October this year, the revised supply mix, with increased quantities from the Chiren storage facility, would have limited the increase to around 28%.

The price mix also includes the full monthly quantities under the long-term contract with Azerbaijan, as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplied under contracts with traders following an organised tender.

The approved price for November includes the component covering the “price of natural gas at the entry points of the gas transmission networks”, the component for the “public supply” activity under Article 17(7) of Regulation No. 2 of 19 March 2013 on the Regulation of Natural Gas Prices, as well as the component under Article 11a(2) of the same regulation, which covers Bulgargaz EAD's costs for storing quantities at the Chiren underground gas storage facility in fulfilment of its obligations under the Emergency Action Plan.

The EWRC's decision approving the natural gas price for November will be published on the regulator's website.