site.btaRegulatory Authority Expects Electricity Price Drops following Legislative Revisions

Regulatory Authority Expects Electricity Price Drops following Legislative Revisions

Sofia, July 8 (BTA) - The tabled revisions to the Energy Act
should lead to a reduction of the electric power prices proposed
 in advance in the draft decision of the Energy and Water
Regulatory Commission (EWRC), the Chairman of the authority,
Ivan Ivanov, told journalists Wednesday.
   
If there is any change of the prices in comparison to what has
been offered, that will be downwards and EWRC, as a regulator,
will not only appreciate both the proposals made but also the
fact that such a reduction of the price would be good for the
authority.
   
Late on Tuesday the motions for revisions to the Energy Act were
 tabled by GERB MPs. They will be discussed on Thursday at an
extraordinary joint meeting of the Energy Committee and the Ad
Hoc Enquiry Committee to Assess the State of the Energy Sector.
The revisions provide for the establishment of an Electric Power
 System Security Fund, which will collect contributions from all
 energy producer enterprises to the amount of five per cent of
the monthly revenue from electricity sales, VAT excluded. The
fund will have to compensate the shortage of the public supplier
 to buy out energy from the "green" power plants, cogeneration
and American TPPs. It will also collect funds from the sale of
greenhouse gas sales. The Council of Ministers will determine
the organization and operation of the fund, as well as the
spending and control of funds in it, by adopting a special
ordinance.
   
The revisions also provide that the National Electricity Company
 (NEK) buy out electricity from renewable energy sources at
preferential prices only to the amount of net specific output,
determined by a pricing decision of EWRC, while the rest will be
 purchased by the price for a balancing market. EWRC will also
be able to determine individual prices for RES producers in
whose case there are findings of a difference between the actual
 and the declared investment costs made.
   
Ivanov again underscored that the draft decision of the
regulator concerning the prices provided equality between all
electricity users and that there was no criticism on the part of
 the government or the energy sector in this respect.
   
If the time-limits the Chairman of the Energy Committee Delyan
Dobrev are kept, then the revisions will be adopted by July 22
and will be promulgated in the "State Gazette" on July 24, EWRC
will work - if it has to - round the clock but will come out
with a decision for the prices by the end of July, Ivanov said.
He also expressed hope it would prove to the benefit of all
consumers.