Bulgaria’s energy regulator approved the price of natural gas for June

Bulgaria’s Energy and Water Regulatory Commission on June 10 approved the natural gas price, eefective as of June 1, 2022, at BGN 141.36/MWh (excluding access, transmission, excise and VAT). At this price, state-o0wned gas operator “Bulgargaz” will sell natural gas to the final suppliers and to entities who have been granted a licence for production and transmission of heat.

The price of BGN 141.36/MWH is 13% lower compared to May and is below the gas price for April, which proves that the secured LNG supplies are a real alternative to the contract unilaterally terminated by Gazprom.

All the necessary quantities of natural gas have been secured for Bulgarian household consumers, industrial customers as well as district heating companies. They receive the best possible prices, despite the global energy crisis with extremely high prices.

The energy watchdog set the natural gas price for June after a thorough analysis of the data and documents provided in the application submitted by Bulgargaz.

It has been established that the public supplier has formed the total estimated quantity for the domestic market on the basis of two sources - a natural gas supply contract with a company from Azerbaijan and a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Supply Agreement. Bulgargas' application contains the individual prices of the suppliers and the amount of their quantities in the total mix.

The main challenge in the coming months is to secure long-term contracts for alternative supplies. In order to achieve security of supply and price stability, the regulator recommends to conclude contracts with at least three alternative suppliers with different pricing methods.

"With the price achieved in June, Bulgargaz proves that by attracting new suppliers Bulgaria can achieve lower prices than Gazprom, which is good both for domestic consumers and for the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy. Our common aspiration is that this will be the direction in the coming months and years and thus our country will overcome its historical energy dependence on one supplier - Russia," the head of the energy regulator, Stanislav Todorov, said at the open meeting on June 9,.2022.

The regulator’s decision on the natural gas price as of June 1,.2022 will be published on the its website.