Deputies adopted the EWRC activity report for 2022
The National Assembly adopted the report on the activities of the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (EWRC). The report presented by EWRC chairman Ivan Ivanov states that the priority in the "Electricity" sector in 2022 is to minimize the consequences of the drastic increase in the prices of electricity and natural gas caused by the military conflict that began and the COVID-19 pandemic. 19. The economic and geopolitical consequences for Bulgaria and Europe necessitate the need to provide alternative suppliers of energy resources.
In the Heat and Power sector, the regulator is making efforts to limit the inevitable increase in heat energy prices in the 2022-2023 season. This goal has been achieved despite the drastic increase in the price of natural gas and greenhouse gas emissions. An aggravating factor is the accumulated uncompensated costs of the heating companies of over BGN 503 million, due to the moratorium introduced by the National Assembly on the change of the established prices for the period 2021-2022. Regardless, the regulator managed to limit the increase in the price of heat energy for household consumers up to 29.73% on average for the entire country. This was achieved mainly through the preferential prices of electricity of the heating companies and limitation of their costs for fuel and for the transfer of thermal energy. With the reduction of VAT on thermal energy from 20% to 9%, the real increase in the price has been reduced to 17.84%, the submitted report states.
With regard to the Natural Gas sector, the efforts of the regulator to ensure the necessary quantities of blue fuel and to activate urgent measures to normalize prices are indicated. It is a matter of securing alternative quantities of natural gas and including them in the price mix.
The adopted report also reports on EWRC's activities in the water services sector during the new 5-year regulatory period 2022 - 2026. The review of business plans in 2021 has been delayed due to the adopted Moratorium on water service prices. After its expiration, operators submit updated business plans and price submissions, the report states.