Bulgaria Hikes Q4 Electricity Prices by 10%

The Bulgarian energy regulator said on Wednesday it has decided to increase by some 10% electricity prices for both households and industrial users in the fourth quarter of 2014.

Industrial customers of the local energy distribution unit of Czech energy group CEZ will pay 0.16501 levs ($0.1064/0.0844 euro) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) as of October 1, while households will pay 0.13421 per kWh, the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) said in a statement posted on its website.

Austrian utility EVN will sell electricity at 0.18203 levs per kWh to industrial customers and at 0.13127 levs per kWh to households in the last three months of the year.

Industrial customers of Czech utility Energo-Pro will pay 0.18182 levs per kWh as of October 1 and households will pay 0.13837 levs per kWh.

The state electricity company NEK will sell electricity to power suppliersat 125.32 levs per kWh, up by 9.8% from the previous quarter.

The prices are given net of value-added tax (VAT).

Last week the energy regulator said it will continue to gradually increase electricity prices with the aim of covering the losses accumulated by the National Electricity Company.

The gap in the energy sector is estimated at some 3.0 billion levs and might increase by another 900 million levs over the next 12 months, the country's deputy prime minister Ekaterina Zaharieva has said.

Three power distribution companies operate in Bulgaria.

EVN Bulgaria, part of Austrian energy group EVN, operates in southern Bulgaria. CEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria operates in the region of Sofia, western and northern Bulgaria. Energo-Pro's units operate in the northeastern part of the country.

Source: SeeNews