Chairman of the Bulgarian Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (KEVR) Stanislav Todorov said that the regulator is ready to apply increasing -block pricing (IBP) for electricity and water, if it gets a mandate for that from Parliament.
IBP aim to make sure that a basic quantity of electricity is guaranteed for all at affordable prices while bigger consumers are charged more.
Todorov explained that the IBP is the mechanism where consumers will pay lower rate for a certain quantity of electricity and water and a higher rate for a larger quantity. He added that district heating services could also be included. What this means in practice is that the utility bills for an average apartment will likely stay the same even after the expected increase of electricity and heating prices.
He reminded that Bulgarian households pay the lowest price for gas and electricity in Europe and urged commercial consumers to sign long-term agreements for electricity supply like the ones they have for natural gas.
KEVR previously proposed that, as of 1 July, the price of heating for residential consumers should increase by an average of 39 % and the price of electricity by an average of 3.3 %. Regarding electricity, the increase for consumers in western Bulgaria, supplied by Eurohold, will be the lowest – 2.5 %. Customers of Energo-Pro will experience the highest increase of 4.5 %, while the price for those supplied by EVN should increase by 3.5 %.
