Karakachanov: January household electricity bills are expected to be "salty"

I am extremely worried about how the Bulgarian energy sector is “managed”. Four years of assemblies, rotations, non-coalitions, change, squabbling and mixing between former political opponents have led the Bulgarian energy sector to collapse, says VMRO leader Krasimir Karakachanov.

Karakachanov is adamant that there is neither a strategy nor an action plan on how to provide cheap electricity for Bulgarian citizens and Bulgarian businesses. January household electricity bills are expected to be “salty”, at the same time, the state has neither a mechanism nor even a working idea on how to compensate household consumers. Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova stated in parliament “5 billion leva were seized from the state energy sector. and in an extremely short period of time. At the moment, the sector is practically bloodless and everything that is about to be done as investments in the sector cannot be done.“

Bulgaria has turned from an exporter into an importer of electricity. On the free electricity market, we register prices of 400-500-600 leva per MWh in certain periods. At the same time, the state compensates the difference between 180 leva per MWh and the average price on the exchange (for example, 280-290 leva per MWh). Everything else remains at the expense of the enterprises. This is killing the Bulgarian economy. Instead of using this money for reinvestment or higher wages for workers, businesses pay electricity traders to buy expensive properties abroad and yachts.

The fraud continues with the sale of the two reactors of the Belene NPP and the construction of new units in Kozloduy for 48 billion leva, which, according to the decision of the Parliament, will eventually start only after 2035. The maintenance of the insane "Green Deal", which destroys our coal-fired power plants at the expense of solar and wind turbines, whose expensive electricity is paid by Bulgarian businesses, and from 2026 by Bulgarian citizens. This is how we get to - expensive electricity for Bulgarians, but cheap exports at fixed prices to Ukraine, so much so that they even wanted to tie us to a 10-year contract.

We do not hear from the "Zhelyazkov" cabinet and no real measures and policies from the relevant energy minister. What happened to the inspections of the Energy Regulatory Commission and their reported investments? How will the Energy System Security Fund be replenished to pay compensation? At the moment, as it becomes clear, some 800 million leva are missing, i.e. there is no money for compensation. When will there be a definition and mechanism for supporting energy-poor households? These are all key questions that have no answer.

When will the Energy Law be changed and will the Water and Sewerage Operators be able to directly conclude contracts for cheap electricity with NEK, for example, so that the price of water does not skyrocket every year due to expensive electricity for pumps? It is very important that the parliament would replace the commissioners in the Energy Regulatory Commission! If this commission continues to work as before, there is no point. The Energy Regulatory Commission does not control the monopolies, which is why the Energy Regulatory Commission left a third of Bulgaria without electricity during the December holidays – they report investments, but in reality the network is old and often breaks down, there are no backup routes.

Currently, the Bulgarian energy sector is chaos, fog and brutal fraud. The data of the Electricity System Operator shows that our gross electricity production is decreasing - for 2023 compared to 2022 it has decreased by 20.6%. The data for 2024 will show a continuation of the trend due to the shutdown of TPPs and high carbon quotas. Thus, Bulgaria becomes an importer of electricity – we have to buy expensive electricity from Greek gas-fired TPPs, as well as import from Romania and Turkey to strengthen the energy balance.

We expect serious civil discontent from VMRO due to high electricity bills. The budget draft of the "Zhelyazkov" cabinet will show whether this government has an idea how to strengthen the Bulgarian energy sector or is simply buying time with palliative measures. If they again collect 100% of the profits of the Kozloduy NPP and NEK, it will become clear that they are continuing the policy of Asen Vassilev, a policy that GERB and DPS supported. We know where it led.

The "Zhelyazkov" cabinet has very little time to show whether it denies the nonsense of Asen Vassilev and the PP. If not - VMRO is fully prepared to start protests against the madness in the energy sector and high electricity bills!