site.btaLegislation Proposed to Make Energy Regulator Elected by Parliament, not Government

Legislation Proposed to Make Energy Regulator Elected by Parliament, not Government


Sofia, January 15 (BTA) - Parliament voted on principle Thursday
to make the energy regulator elected by the legislature. The
change will be enacted through revisions in the Energy Act which
were put forward by the government and voted on first reading.

The State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) is
currently elected and discharged by the government.

The government argues that the proposed change ensures
transparency in the election of the SEWRC.

The revisions were supported by 133 MPs, one voted against and
19 abstained.

In keeping with the Administration Act, the word "State" will be
scrapped from the name of the regulator.

Another contemplated change provides for the division of the
Commission into two panels: on energy and on water and sewerage,
each of which will make its own decisions.

The government reasons that this will step up and improve the
work of the regulator, especially in the water sector, which is
now being overlooked.

The revisions set a limit on the number of closed-door meetings
that the Commission may hold and these will be limited to cases
where classified information will be involved.

The requirement for the Commission to have at least one lawyer
and one economist among its members will be scrapped but the
required professional experience of the commissioners will be
upped to five years from three.

During the debates on the proposed changes, most groups in
Parliament supported the idea to have the energy commissioners
elected by the legislature. There were strong differences on the
contemplated division of the SEWRC into two panels.

Alexander Nenkov of GERB said that the Commission must work
transparently and that its decisions should be economically, not
politically, motivated. "We have to stop using the price of
electricity as an instrument of social policy," he said.

The chair of the parliamentary energy committee, Delyan Dobrev
(GERB), said that the long-term course of action should be total
liberalization of the electricity market. He argued that the
model of the electricity exchange in Bulgaria needs to change.

Tasko Ermenkov said that while his BSP Left Bulgaria group is
supportive of making the energy and water regulator elected by
Parliament, they believe that splitting it in two panels will
block its work. "Either we preserve the current model or create
two separate regulator, one for energy and one for the water
sector," he said.

Ermenkov also said that the proposed revisions fail to ensure
the financial independence of the regulator and it absolutely
needs it.

Ramadan Atalai of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF)
said that through the years the energy regulator has been under
the influence of the energy minister or directly under the
inluence of the Prime Minister, and added that having it elected
by Parliament is a good idea.

Peter Slavov of the Reformist Bloc said that the SEWRC does not
work well and changes need to be made.

Patriotic Front leader Valeri Simeonov argued that the
Commission needs two chairpersons.

ABV deputy leader Kiril Tsochev called for preserving the
requirement for the Commission to have at least one lawyer and
one economist in its ranks.

The Bulgarian Democratic Centre declared support for the
proposed changes and suggested that the Commission members be
increased to nine from seven.

The period between the first- and second-reading debates was
extended to 14 days from the usual seven days.