Temenuzhka Petkova: The Government has fulfilled its commitment to enforce the Energy Act amendments
The proposal for the new pricing period sent to EWRC by NEK has not required tariff increase
"We have fulfilled our commitment to elaborate a regulation concerning the reduction of the burden of the charge "obligation to society" for the industry", Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said before the journalists in relation to the draft regulation on the reduction of the burden regarding the energy cost from RES which is currently under public hearing. According to the provisions of the Energy Act this regulation must be applied within six months after the enforcement of the Act, i.e. until 6th September. In Minister Petkova’s opinion, the three ministers /of Energy, of Economy and of Finance/ who are responsible for the elaboration of the new regulations have speeded their work so as to effectively decrease the financial burden over the industry in the new pricing period after 1st July.
The preferences in the new regulation will be used by enterprises consuming over 30 GWh/year. They are defined following the EC Guidelines for environmental protection and energy. "These are enterprises that consume most electrical power, export to international markets and their competitiveness is at risk under a change in power tariffs", Minister Petkova clarified. Their preference is 85% discount of the tariff for the power purchased from RES, which is one of the components "obligation to society". Based on the estimate by the Ministry of Energy, about 30 big industrial enterprises will benefit from the preference. The total reduction for them is about 90 mln BGN per year.
Until now the industry has been paying 18.93 BGN charge "obligation to society", whereas households -53 BGN. The new proposal equalizes this charge for all types of consumers.
At present, the regulation has been offered for public hearing and we are ready to discuss with all parties involved different options for changes, as long as they are in compliance with EC Guidelines for environmental protection and energy, Minister Petkova explained. Regarding the dissatisfaction with the new tariffs expressed by some employer organizations, Petkova underlined that the Minister of Energy and the Government do not have direct connection with tariff definition in the sector and it is within the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission authority to define the electricity prices. Minister Petkova reminded that state enterprises in the energy sector, which are accountable to the Ministry of Energy, have not required tariff increase for the new pricing period.