site.btaEC Approves EUR 142 Mln in State Aid for Bulgarian Energy Industry

The European Commission said on Friday that it has approved the granting of state aid for EUR 142 million to support the Bulgarian energy industry. The aid aims to cover part of the costs of the companies that stored gas in the Chiren gas storage facility to help achieve the goal of filling the storage to 80% of its volume before the start of the heating season in November 2022.

The aid will be paid directly to natural gas suppliers and will compensate them for some of their losses from storing expensive gas in the summer of 2022 and then selling it at lower prices from November 2022 to April 2024. The aid is limited to EUR 76.7 per megawatt hour and only half of the stored volume can be taken into account when calculating the final aid amount.

The scheme will operate until December 31, said the EC.