The colossal 1.6 billion leva is owed by Sofia District Heating Company to BEH and Bulgargaz

The company's losses by the end of the year will be 150 million leva. Its largest debts are to the Bulgarian Energy Holding and Bulgargaz, which total 1 billion 663 million leva at the end of November. This was stated today to the Bulgarian National Radio by the executive director of Sofia District Heating Company, Petar Petrov.

Huge interest is accumulated every year, which prevents the company from turning a profit. 207 million will not be recognized as expenses of "Sofia District Heating", informed Petar Petrov, who is at a hearing in the Sofia Municipal Council.

However, Petrov guarantees that regardless of the daily breakdowns, Sofia residents will not be left without heating and hot water in the winter.

"This debt spiral we are entering makes it impossible for the company to make a profit. We are in constant negotiations with BEH and Bulgargaz. We also had a meeting with the Ministry of Energy. We are missing about 160 million for this heating period".

There is a lack of adequate action on the part of everyone to reform and rehabilitate "Toplofikatsiya-Sofia", according to Mayor Vasil Terziev. I count on the administration and the Sofia Municipal Council (SMC) to find a way to solve the problem with "Sofia District Heating" more quickly.

These are problems that I have repeatedly raised the alarm about, and not only when we took office in 2023 as a new government. These are problems that have existed for decades and are constantly being talked about, but no solutions have been found. What is happening today was clear that it would happen if you look at the old reports. But what has been missing all these years is much more adequate actions by everyone, so that this company can reform, recover, and not repeat the old things - accumulation of debts, lack of investments in key areas of the company's activity.

"I hope that we have both the political will and wisdom to be able to solve this problem, unlike many others before us, who have done nothing. And we have come to this day to wonder why there are such accidents and on such a scale, which I repeat unfortunately, will become the norm if measures are not taken. I count on us as the administration and the Municipal Council to find a way to solve this problem more quickly," Terziev added.

The role of Elon Musk

I agree with Mayor Vasil Terziev that the management issue is important, but even if he brings Elon Musk as the head of "District Heating", under this regulatory framework, I doubt that there will be a better result. This was stated by the municipal councilor from the GERB-SDS group Proshko Proshkov to journalists. The group's comment was made before the start of today's extraordinary session of the Sofia Municipal Council (SMC), in which the management of "Sofia District Heating" will be heard due to the frequent accidents in a number of neighborhoods during the heating season.

The municipal councilor called on the media to dig up the headlines of their news in previous years at the same time. You will see headlines like "December Sofia remains without hot water", "Toplofikatsiya goes bankrupt", "Sofian residents remain cold for Christmas" and others like that, said Proshkov, adding that this happens every year at this time. The extraordinary nature of this session rather suggests something else, the municipal councilor believes. What issue will the mayor and municipal councilors who requested this extraordinary session decide, Proshkov asked. We have repeatedly commented on the reasons why this company is in a constant debt spiral and cannot get out of it, he said.

The difference between the regulatory price of fuel, which Sofia District Heating uses to form its price in previous years, was much lower than the one at which gas is actually sold at the moment, Proshkov explained. He recalled that in 2021 and 2022 the difference was between 140-240 leva per megawatt hour to the detriment of Sofia District Heating. This is like the state obliging you to sell bread for 1 leva, but to buy it for 7 leva, Proshkov pointed out.

Since we will be asking questions to the company's management today, I will ask the municipal councilors from "Continuing the Change" to ask their political force why the "Change" government stopped the "bad Russian gas" but imported it through intermediaries, Proshkov asked. "Russian gas was bad, but when Asen Vassilev imported it through intermediaries, it became good, but also more expensive," added the municipal councilor. He also asked why the "Change" government refused to include "Sofia District Heating" in the recovery and sustainability plan, the main pillar of which is the technological announcement in the context of the energy transition, Proshkov pointed out. There is no way in the conditions of such a model to capitalize on this company, the municipal councilor believes.

The municipal councilor from the GERB-SDF group Dimitar Vuchev asked several questions, giving them answers: "Will there be a problem with the heating for Sofia residents - no, will we decide something today after this extraordinary session - no, will we have a plan and a clear perspective on how this problem can be solved - yes". This plan was laid out during the last term by the leadership of Yordanka Fandakova, Vuchev pointed out. According to him, the process had been started, but was stopped by the "Change" government, which refused to enter into a debate with the Municipality. The truth is that the Municipality alone cannot support this company, Vuchev believes.