site.btaRegulator Considers Postponing Electricity Price Change

Regulator Considers Postponing  Electricity Price Change

Sofia, June 22 (BTA) - By Friday, the Energy and Water
Regulatory Commission (EWRC) will have decided whether to
postpone the start of the next pricing period for electricity,
which usually begins on July 1, EWRC Chairman Ivan Ivanov told
journalists on Monday. Such postponements were made legally
possible by new legislation in 2013.

The decision will be made after Parliament hears EWRC on the
matter, Ivanov said. He noted that it is possible to change the
electricity pricing model in order to avoid a large increase of
the public obligation surcharge for the free market while also
preventing a major price rise for household users, but this
requires additional measures.

Any increase in the number of large industrial plants benefiting
 from a proposed relaxation of the public obligation surcharge
requirement will reduce the proceeds from the surcharge itself
and will thus increase the financial deficit of the National
Electricity Company (NEK), Ivanov warned. The current proposal
is that the relaxation should only apply to large industrial
plants which use over 30 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually,
 which will cause NEK to lose 95 million leva in annual
proceeds, but the loss will be offset by 97 million leva in
additional revenues which will come from a renegotiated
availability charge paid by two US-owned thermal power plants.
If, however, the scope of industrial plants benefiting from the
relaxation is enlarged, the authorities should take additional
measures to offset the increased loss of proceeds for NEK,
Ivanov explained. Such additional measures were mentioned in the
 Council of Ministers on Sunday, he said.

Ivanov was adamant that the electricity exchange must go into
operation on November 2 and its parameters must not be altered.

He complained that EWRC has come under strong political pressure
 as the date for announcing the new electricity prices
approaches. VI/VE