Members of the permanent parliamentary Committee on Energy, in the presence of the Minister of Energy, Jecho Stankov, and the Chairman of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC), adopted on first reading today two draft laws amending and supplementing the Energy Act. Thus, the members of parliament voted to postpone the process of market liberalization for retail electricity. Between the two readings of the texts, the deadline for the postponement will be clarified, mechanisms for electricity supply will be determined, and procedures for compensating price differences between regulated and market prices will be established.
The Ministry of Energy (ME) aims for the changes to come into force on July 1 - the beginning of the regulatory period. Among them is also a change in the body that will determine the regulated price. The ME intends for this to happen by decision of the Council of Ministers, rather than as before - by decision of the KEVR.
BTA spoke with Energy Minister Jecho Stankov about the proposed changes and the reasons behind them.
Here is the full text:
- What necessitates a change in the way the regulated price of electricity for households is determined?
- We are talking about a mechanism by which the regulated price should be set. My duty as Minister of Energy and that of the Council of Ministers is to protect household consumers from being exposed to electricity prices as they are on the free market.
We have achieved our goal - there will be no liberalization of the retail market. What will be the mechanism for determining the regulated price - whether KEVR, which has been making decisions so far, whether what KEVR does as accounts will be provided to the Council of Ministers and the CM will make a decision, is purely a technical procedure. We have achieved a halt to the liberalization process for an unlimited period of time in a way that will ensure the energy supply to end consumers and in a way that the price will remain regulated and on every July 1st, household consumers will know what the price of electricity will be for the next year.
- Will the regulatory period be kept?
- The regulatory period will be from July 1st to June 30th.
- KEVR makes decisions for the regulated price as an independent body. Under what criteria and based on what opinions can the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) determine prices different from the ones proposed by the Energy Ministry?
- I have great trust in the expertise of the EWRC. I have worked wonderfully with Mr. Ivan Ivanov for many years. Now I am extremely satisfied with my joint work with Mr. Mladenovski. We fully trust them and believe that the bills that will be made will be fair. Of course, the Ministry of Energy and the EWRC maintain their right to review any bills and have constructive dialogue with them. But again, I would like to emphasize that these are mostly technical matters and I do not expect them to have an impact.
- Will public discussions at the EWRC be maintained?
- There will definitely be public discussions. The most important thing for us is that everything is done in a transparent way. Public discussions by KEVR, with the presence of the Ministry of Energy, energy companies and others, are an integral part of this.
- With the planned changes in the Energy Law, will there be a need for re-signing of contracts or annexes by household consumers with their suppliers?
- My task as the Minister of Energy has always been to minimize administrative burden. Nobody will have to go to any office of any company. The only obligated parties here until July 1st are my parliamentary colleagues, whom I have urged to accept the proposal for changes in the Energy Law in the shortest possible timeframe, both at first and second reading. We will introduce an additional amendment between the two readings in order to clarify the processes, ensuring that they are flawless from a financial, European and price policy perspective.
11797 | 29 April 2025 | 14:06
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