site.btaNew Fund Will Balance Electricity Prices

New Fund Will Balance Electricity Prices

Sofia, July 3 (BTA) - A new fund will help the National Electric
Company (NEK) tackle its deficit caused by obligations under
long-term purchase agreements and avert the price hike for
household and industrial consumers. The decision was made on
Friday at a meeting of the Energy Council with the Council of
Ministers, which comprises the government, employers and trade
unions.

The Fund will be financed through emissions sales and a
contribution paid by all energy producers, equal to 5 per cent
of their revenues. 

Plamen Dimitrov, leader of the Confederation of Independent
Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), said the idea to create a fund
 to assist the purchase of expensive green energy was
encouraging.

He said that with the operation of the Fund, NEK will no longer
be burdened with a current deficit and the existing electricity
tariff deficit of 1.4 billion leva may be resecheduled. Dimitrov
 said that this will unplug payments in the energy sector
between NEK, the power generating facilities and the mines.

He said that the issue about the surcharges on electricity
exports remained at issue until next Wednesday, when the Council
 is scheduled to meet again,

Bozhidar Danev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Association
 and coordinator of the employer organizations that took part in
 Friday's meeting, told the press that
the high point of Friday's meeting was that reserves were found
to avert the price hike for the households and businesses.

Danev noted that all participants, including the ministers of
economy and energy, were unanimous in their opinions.

Until next Wednesday eligibility criteria will be drafted under
an ordinance which gives a rebate from the green energy
surcharge to industrial consumers, said Danev.

According to Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova, the measures
that were proposed on Friday will bring NEK's deficit down by
some 400 million leva.
 
Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said that both the
government and the energy regulator wanted the country to have a
 liberalized energy market in six months, when prices will be
unregulated and the fund for energy security will have a far
more important task of addressing imbalances in the system.

Delyan Dobrev, chair of the parliamentary energy committee, said
 that the changes to the Energy Act and the RES Act, needed to
make the fund operational, will be tabled next Tuesday and will
be discussed by the parliamentary committee on Thursday. They
will be gazetted by July 24, said Dobrev, adding that the
regulator will have enough time to pronounce by the end of the
month.