Workers at Sofia District Heating are protesting

The trade unions of CITUB and Podkrepa in Sofia District Heating will hold a protest march and rally in front of the Sofia Municipality today. The reason is the poor working conditions and the unwillingness of the owner to update the pay of the company's employees. The procession will start in the late afternoon today, and the participants will gather on Dondukov Blvd. and GSRakovski St. After that, they will move along the roadway on Rakovski Street and Moskovska Street to the Sofia Municipality, where the rally will take place, the unions announced.

The requests of the workers in Sofia Disstrict Heating EAD are for compensation of the salaries with 20% from 01.05.2022 and preservation of the amount of the fund “Social and household and cultural services”. Despite the high inflation, Sofia Disstrict Heating EAD reduced its personnel costs by 1.3%.

This is another protest of the workers. Only a month ago, they came up with demands for indexation of salaries and preservation of social conditions. An agreement with the Sofia Municipality was not reached then.

We remind you that Sofia Disstrict Heating is the largest district heating company in Bulgaria and has the largest liabilities to BEH and Bulgargaz. The company has been operating at a loss for years, and the price of the main fuel - natural gas, has risen dramatically in the last year. The high prices will start to repel the company's customers, experts comment. Currently, a jump in the price of the district heating service in the capital is expected by up to 30% and the EWRC will decide on this. A Sofia-based company also receives a preferential price for the production of electricity from its cogeneration units - the prices there are already comparable to the levels of renewable energy installations. According to experts, cogeneration production there is not very efficient, but this is the way to keep prices lower for end customers.