Experts: Political mistakes and omissions, green ambitions and speculation have raised record electricity and gas prices

Bulgaria and consumers are facing a severe winter due to the inevitable rise in price of your heating electricity. Energy experts Elenko Bozhkov and Vasko Nachev united around this opinion. However, the two also see options for the price increase to be dampened, although their opinions differ in terms of the methods that this happened. According to both, many mistakes and omissions have been made in the past, which is why today we reach these record prices for electricity and natural gas. Some of them are caused by the policy in Bulgaria, others - by the EU, and others - by the speculation, which is allowed or against which no counteraction mechanisms have been created.

On Nova TV, Bozhkov said that from the beginning of January there will certainly be an increase in the price of heating. According to him, an increase of at least 20% should be expected especially for Sofia. He also described the statements that the price increase would be within 10 percent as unrealistic. "These are overly optimistic forecasts against the background of the gas prices we have at the moment," Bozhkov was adamant.

As for electricity for households, according to him, there is a possibility to limit its rise in price and this must happen. According to Bozhkov, it is good for the price increase to be within two to three percent. He noted that this increase in prices for household consumers cannot be avoided, because it will have to cover the rise in price of electricity produced by district heating cogeneration, which will certainly receive higher prices. "However, how the EWRC will approach is another question," the expert commented, saying that the regulator was not doing its job properly.

However, such price increases will be difficult for people to bear, Vasko Nachev believes. "Current prices are quite difficult for most people in our country, so after the 20% increase, things will become even more difficult," he said. According to him, the solution to the problem is finally to fill in the content of the concept of "Energy Poverty", to determine which people in Bulgaria meet the criteria and to introduce compensation for them through the social system. "Until that happens, we will always wonder what part of the people will be able to bear what price increase. And when there is clarity in this direction, things will be much easier to overcome, "said Nachev. He stressed that the introduction of such aid will not make people feel much better, but it will be easier to overcome such crises.

For his part, Bozhkov added that according to the European Investment Bank, about 34% of Bulgaria's population is energy poor. But the share of these people is ultimately not exactly identified. "No one has been doing this job for 5 years," Bozhkov said. He added that this is the job of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, but such a decision - how to compensate the energy poor for prices, must go through parliament. Nachev added that the energy aid scheme has been working for several years, but it is far from exhausting the energy poor, and only applies to the most oppressed of all.

Bozhkov reminded that EWRC had ordered and had to implement some recommendations of the EIB since 2018. "The bank then developed for the regulator a whole program on how to move to a free electricity market for households in Bulgaria, at what stages to do so, but none of it has been fulfilled, "he said.

However, Nachev does not fully share Bozhkov's opinion. According to him, the EWRC is the last point on which the focus should be focused. "They just calculate the prices according to formulas that are set for them. Everything before that went through parliament. "And when there were proposals from the EWRC itself to make some changes, everyone in parliament jumped in and said they would not make them," he said.

Bozhkov also stressed that when we talk about electricity prices, we should not talk only about everyday life. "What is happening with the prices for the business at the moment is unbearable," he said. Nachev reminded that the problems are not from today, but have started to accumulate a long time ago. "For more than 5 years we have been going in the same direction to get to the situation today. The problem is Europe's over-ambitious idea of ​​making us a 'green continent'. This sounds perfect, there is no person in the world who would resist living in cleaner nature and breathing cleaner air. It is behind this screen that all the idiocies that led us to the situation today take place. Add to that the pandemic of last year, and they believed that this could happen almost immediately. The idea of ​​Europe was to find ourselves in the situation we are in today in 2030 ", criticizes the policy of the EU Nachev.

For his part, Elenko Bozhkov added that we are currently under even more serious "green" pressure from Brussels. According to him, the EC has announced that it will not adopt the Plan for Reconstruction and Sustainability of Bulgaria until it is entered in it with specific dates and volumes of what will happen to the coal regions. "By the way, something that should have been done a long time ago by Temenuzhka Petkova," Bozhkov added.

For his part, Nachev added: "If we submit the Plan and meet all the conditions, we will receive BGN 1.6 billion by the end of the year. At the same time, we will pay 5.2 billion for carbon emissions this year. At the same time, someone is telling us: Stop moving towards being independent, we will give you 1.6 billion. At the same time, we must pay 5.2 billion. "

Bozhkov again noted that the forecast for the winter is not good at all, but there is still an opportunity to do something. "One of the things that had to happen, and it is still possible, is to receive gas from Azerbaijan, for which we have a contract. And it is physically possible for this gas to come to Bulgaria. This is a wonderful opportunity to reduce the price of natural gas immediately. The same goes for the price of electricity. With a good compensation from what Kozloduy NPP is currently receiving as a surplus, business can be helped. BGN 1 billion can be given immediately or foreseen for a period until March next year, "Bozhkov said. He added that this should be done for the business, because for household consumers things do not look so dramatic if the rules are followed.

Nachev, for his part, has a different vision. According to him, there is a measure that can be applied to both business and household consumers. This is to remove from society the "Duty to Society" fee, which can be done through a moratorium or other instrument. A moratorium on the purchase of harmful emissions may also be imposed. Which will automatically take the speculators out of the game. According to Nachev, although they are mandatory for all EU countries, it can be done because we are in a force majeure situation. "And in such situations, every country is doing as it sees fit," he said.

Regarding the speculators on the electricity market, Nachev noted that they will always be there and will work 24 hours and 7 days a week, if they are allowed. "They are always ready in any such situation to reap the benefits for them. And in this line of thought, there is no wonder that there are speculators in the market. There are always them, "Nachev noted. He also gave an example of how they work: There is a certain amount of free electricity, company X appears, which has preliminary information in one form or another, it buys most of this energy. For the other players on the market, there is no more energy and then company X returns it to the market, but at a higher price.

Bozhkov gave a concrete example of such a situation only a few days ago. On the evening of September 21, Koloduy NPP announced that it was selling 300 megawatt hours at a very low price. "Who can take advantage of this just before the holiday?" Only a large company can provide a guarantee and take all this energy at a low price, "he said. He added that this speculation is served by the IBEX, so changes must be made. According to Bozhkov, the management of all state-owned energy companies, including the energy exchange, should be changed immediately.