site.btaParliament Adopts Amendments to Energy Act to Liberalize Wholesale Electricity Market

Parliament on Monday adopted on first reading amendments to the Energy Act, which provide for full liberalization of the wholesale electricity market by the end of 2023 while keeping households in a regulated market until 2026. Ninety-eight MPs from GERB-UDF, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms voted in favour of the amendments, while 49 were against. Opposing the amendments were Vazrazhdane, BSP for Bulgaria and There is Such a People, who expressed concerns about rising household electricity prices.

Energy Minister Rumen Radev, who spoke before the voting, stated that households are protected, as final suppliers and traders will sell electricity at regulated prices.

The amendments terminate the role of the public supplier National Electricity Company (NEK) and abolish producer quotas for the regulated market. The bill provides that final energy suppliers, as universal service providers, are obliged to supply households and that households are not obliged to change their supplier. During the transitional period, final energy suppliers will supply households at regulated prices. The bill provides for an option to compensate households for the costs of purchasing electricity within the regulatory process until 2026.

Temenuzhka Petkova of GERB-UDF said that nobody wants to bring households to the free market. She noted that there are a lot of provisions in the bill related to household consumers that require serious revision. The Bulgarian consumer should remain in a regulated market, and we should liberalize the wholesale market, Petkova said.