site.bta Large Industrial Enterprises to Enjoy Preferential Rate of Public Obligation Surcharge, Draft Ordinance Provides

Large Industrial Enterprises to Enjoy Preferential Rate of Public Obligation Surcharge, Draft Ordinance Provides

Sofia, June 17 (BTA) - Large industrial enterprises in Bulgaria
will enjoy an 85 per cent rebate on the green electricity
component of the public obligation surcharge to the electricity
price, Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova told a news
conference here on Wednesday. The preferential treatment is
provided for in a draft ordinance under the Energy Act, which
has been published on the Energy Ministry website for public
consultation.

Under the EU directive, large enterprises qualify for
preferential rates only in respect of the costs of purchase of
green electricity, Petkova specified, recalling that the public
obligation surcharge also includes costs of purchase of
cogenerated electricity and electricity produced by the US-owned
 TPPs in the Maritsa East basin. The requirements which
enterprises should meet to benefit from this aid are clearly set
 out in the ordinance and exactly transpose the EU requirements,
 the Energy Minister explained.

The preferential treatment will be available only to enterprises
 which use more than 30 GWh of electricity annually and which
export their output on the international markets. An increase of
 the public obligation surcharge for these enterprises would
make their products non-competitive, which is why the European
Commission has singled them out for preferential treatment,
Petkova pointed out.

The ordinance was drafted jointly by the ministries of finance,
energy and economy, and is supposed to enter into force as from
July 1, 2015, when the new regulatory period starts and new
electricity prices are expected. "At the forthcoming public
consultation, we are open to suggestions and comments," Petkova
said.

Approached about the demand by the business community that the
Energy Minister should resign because of the proposed 20 per
cent hike of the electricity price for industry, Petkova said
she is not directly concerned with the problem as the prices are
 set by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC). She
added that the state-owned National Electric Company and
Electricity System Operator have not asked for an increase of
electricity prices.

The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) does not
share the radical action of the other employer associations over
 the possible increase of electricity prices, BCCI President
Tsvetan Simeonov told journalists on Wednesday.

He was referring to the readiness expressed by the Bulgarian
Industrial Capital Association, the Bulgarian Industrial
Association and the Confederation of Employers and
Industrialists in Bulgaria to demand the resignation of Energy
Minister Petkova and EWRC Chairman Ivan Ivanov because the
employers fear that the planned rise of electricity prices would
 seriously harm Bulgarian enterprises.

Simeonov said that the BCCI will issue an official position on
the electricity prices and noted that his organization wants
attention to be paid to small and medium-sized enterprises and
that they should not be discriminated against compared to large
companies.