site.btaWorking Group to Propose Mechanism for Automatic Compensation to Non-household Consumers for High Electricity Prices

A working group comprised of Energy Ministry representatives and business executives will propose a mechanism for automatic compensation to non-household consumers for high electricity prices, the Energy Ministry said in a press release on Wednesday covering a meeting between Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov and the Association of Bulgarian Employers' Organizations. The sides discussed steps to ensure resilience and predictability in business.

Stankov said the building of such a compensatory mechanism is part of the ministry's effort to follow up a long-term policy allowing business entities to buy electricity at affordable prices and thus support their competitiveness. Over the long term, the compensations should apply mainly to the strategic economic sectors, but in the event of extraordinary price peaks they should be available to all, Stankov said.

He vowed that the government will implement a whole package of measures to settle and balance off electricity prices. These include strategic projects to build two pumped storage hydropower plants on the reservoirs of Batak and Dospat in the Rhodope Mountains and to increase the capacity of the electricity transmission system.

The Energy Ministry and the business executives concurred that it is advisable to set an upper limit and a lower limit on the price of electricity for non-household consumers. If the price drops under the lower limit, non-household electricity consumers will pay contributions to the Electricity System Security Fund (ESSF) while electricity producers will receive compensations, and if the price exceeds the upper limit, contributions to the ESSF will be paid by electricity producers while compensations will be granted to non-household consumers.