site.btaBSP - United Left, Employers Organization Concur on Need to Keep Electricity Price Compensations

At a meeting with the BSP - United Left Parliamentary Group here on Thursday, employers' organizations asked for guarantees that the mechanism for compensating high electricity prices to non-household customers will be retained.

BSP - United Left further pointed out that support for business and for social establishments is necessary and the compensations should be kept.

Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) Governing Board Chair Vasil Velev voiced serious concern about the lack of a legal basis to continue the high electricity price compensation programme because the 2025 Budget Act and a law extending the 2024 budget have not yet been adopted. He pointed out that for November and December 2024 the day-ahead market price in Bulgaria was 50% higher than in France, Germany and the Netherlands and by multiples higher than the price in Northern Europe even though all these countries compete on identical markets. Velev described this as "three-speed Europe".

"That such a mechanism, albeit belated, will be available, is a message to business that we consider very important," the BICA Governing Board Chair said. He pointed out that the Act on the Collection of Revenues and the Commitment of Expenditures in 2025 provides for such a mechanism, but it is not guaranteed. "The legislative provision is not enough, the Council of Ministers, too, must adopt a compensation programme," Velev added.

The employers' organizations called for an accelerated adoption of the bill bridging the public finance gap including a provision that regulates the compensation mechanism. "There is pressure for protest action," Velev warned. He pointed out that they have filed a notification of such a protest at 11 a.m. on January 15 in front of Parliament building but hope that things will not go that far. 

Dragomir Stoynev MP of BSP - United Left pointed out that the compensations must stay and noted that they benefit not only industry but also kindergartens, schools, libraries, chitalishtes and hospitals.

National Assembly Chair Natalia Kiselova said that she will do her best so that the bridging bill will be debated by the Budget and Finance Committee by January 15 and be on Parliament's plenary agenda for the following week. Kiselova explained that since the Budget and Finance does not an elected chair at this point, she schedules its meetings and sets its agenda.
 
The Act on the Collection of Revenues and the Commitment of Expenditures in 2025, which the legislature adopted on first reading earlier on Thursday, provides for a procedure for the collection of targeted contributions from electricity producers for the Electricity System Security Fund, to be used as a source of financing programmes for the payment of compensations to non-household electricity customers.