Over BGN 200 per MWh compensation for businesses for expensive electricity until the end of 2023, the Energy Commission of the National Assembly decided

The Energy Committee in the Parliament accepted that the compensations for electricity for businesses should be in the amount of 100 percent of the difference between the real average monthly exchange price of the "day-ahead" segment of "BNEB" EAD for the relevant month and the base price in the amount of BGN 200 per megawatt hour (MWh ). The compensation will be valid until the end of 2023. The proposal was made by the deputy from the parliamentary group of "BSP for Bulgaria" Dragomir Stoynev, BTA reported.

Before that, the importers - GERB-SDS MP Delyan Dobrev and a group of people's representatives proposed that customers who are connected to a high voltage network should pay a maximum price of BGN 200 per megawatt hour (MWh), and for the rest the compensation should be BGN 250 per MWh.

"The reason for this differentiation or for this greater support for customers connected to the high voltage network is that this is the principle throughout Europe," explained Delyan Dobrev. According to him, in the mass case, the European industry pays no more than 100 per megawatt hour, therefore the same is offered by PG to "GERB-SDS".

The Electricity System Security Fund (FSES) has paid out BGN 2 billion and 232 million for the past three months. This was said by Dean Chervenkondev, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of FSES. According to him, 100 percent of this money came from the Bulgarian Energy Holding.

Minister Hristov: The funds are barely enough for the compensations

The funds that the state-owned energy companies currently contribute to the Electricity System Security Fund are barely enough to pay the current compensations. This was said by the Acting Minister of Energy, Rosen Hristov, during today's meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy. "Energy is even making advance payments from the companies at the moment, so that we can secure the necessary funds," the minister pointed out. He pointed out that according to preliminary estimates, the additional funds needed to compensate for the difference of BGN 50 per megawatt hour amount to about BGN 18 million per month. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance must say whether the funds from the SES fund will be sufficient and take the necessary actions to secure money from the budget.

Dragomir Stoynev from the parliamentary group of "BSP for Bulgaria" suggested that the compensation should be 200 BGN for absolutely everyone, not only for large energy consumers.

The Ministry can make calculations for all proposals, including the collection of funds only from the state-owned energy enterprises, the Energy Minister explained. A calculation can be made at the relevant electricity prices what the compensation budget would be. "We have already made such analyses, we just need to supplement and expand them," added Rosen Hristov. According to him, it is good that everyone has these estimates so that a balanced decision can be made.

We support the concept of helping businesses deal with high electricity prices, Hristov added.

We remind you that the parliament accepted compensations for businesses due to high electricity prices with the update of the state budget for this year, which was made in the summer. According to the amendments, it is envisaged that the "Security of the Electricity System" Fund will compensate non-domestic end customers of electricity in the amount of 100 percent of the difference between the real average monthly exchange price of the "day-ahead" segment of "BNEB" EAD for the relevant month and the base price in the amount BGN 250 per megawatt hour (MWh) until December 31, 2022. No compensation is paid for customers with prices below the base price of BGN 250/MWh. Customers with a price exceeding the basic price by a smaller amount than the amount of compensation are paid compensation in a reduced amount, so that the resulting price for the customer after compensation is not lower than BGN 250/MWh.