site.btaEnergy Act Revisions Provide for Gas Supply Metering by Chromatograph

Bulgaria's National Assembly on Thursday passed conclusively amendments to the Energy Act enabling natural gas customers to request from the transmission network operator the installation of a remotely read chromatograph for the component composition of the natural gas.

The revision was moved by parliamentary Energy Committee Chair Delyan Dobrev MP of GERB-UDF, who said that this version of the legislation had been cleared with the Energy Ministry and with Bulgartransgaz.

The gas chromatograph readings will be used to determine the quantities of natural gas by the commercial metering device. The costs of the purchase, installation and maintenance of the chromatograph will be borne by the customers. The ownership of an installed gas chromatograph will pass gratuitously from the customer to the gas transmission network operator, and the customer will be afforded free-of-charge access to the readings. The terms and conditions for the installation and use of a gas chromatograph will be established by a contract that the gas transmission network must provide to the customers within 30 days of receipt of the request.

Dobrev said that the newly adopted provisions enable business and household users who suspect that they are overcharged for gas to purchase a device that will be measuring the calorific value of the fuel supplied and to be invoiced on this basis.