site.btaEmployers Demand Compensations for High Electricity Prices for Non-household Consumers, Threaten Protests

The failure to pass a law extending the 2024 state budget in the absence of a budget law for 2025 has created serious problems for non-household consumers of electricity, employers said at a BTA-hosted news conference in Sofia on Thursday. They complained of a lack of a legal mechanism to pay compensations for high electricity prices on the free market, which has caused considerable tension among businesses.

"There is much pressure for the problem to be addressed as soon as possible," said Vassil Velev, who chairs the Management Board of the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA). Employers call for keeping the current price cap of BGN 180 per MWh, above which non-household consumers of electricity are entitled to receive compensation.

Employer organizations and trade unions have taken care to avert spontaneous protest actions such as blockades at highways and border crossings. They have held meetings with the ministers of energy and finance. More discussions are planned, including talks with the parliamentary groups and another meeting with the energy minister, Velev said.

The compensatory mechanism is essential for industrial plants and other non-household consumers of electricity such as kindergartens, schools, hospitals, churches and museums, which are also having difficulties due to high electricity prices. BICA estimates show that there are more than 600,000 non-household consumers of electricity in Bulgaria, Velev said. He noted that the price for household consumers has been increased by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission from BGN 128/MWh to BGN 138/MWh, while the price for non-household consumers has soared from BGN 180/MWh to BGN 250/MWh as of January 1. This makes enterprises uncompetitive, the BICA chairman said.

Unless a compensatory mechanism is set up, a nationwide protest against uncompetitive electricity prices will be held on January 15, Velev warned.

Compensations for high electricity prices for non-household consumers were introduced in 2021 as a business protection measure. Initially, their size was set on a monthly basis. A cap was enforced in 2022, originally at BGN 250/MWh, to be lowered to BGN 200/MWh in 2023 and BGN 180/MWh in 2024.