Electricity supplier “Electrohold” stops issuing paper bills after September 2023

From September 2023, the subscribers of the electricity distribution company for Southwest Bulgaria will receive electronic elctricity bills instead of paper ones. The change is made to facilitate customers and protect the environment.

BNT team from Blagoevgrad checked how people in small settlements will receive their bills.

The village of Delvino is about 10 km from Blagoevgrad. There is no electricity distribution company's office there, there is no post office, and there are no payment offices. People are forced to travel to the larger town to pay their bills. And they rarely receive invoices.

"It's difficult with the post office. I don't know, maybe the postmen don't come, or if they do, they come very rarely. They leave the letters with the mayor, " Kostadin Petrov said.

"So far they have received the letters and very rarely does anyone look for them because they are sitting in the town hall," said the mayor of the village of Delvino, Krasimir Stoitsov.

From September this year, all invoices to domestic customers will be issued electronically, registered users will have access to an individual electronic archive on the company's website. To register, however, you need basic internet skills and a web connection.

"We don't have internet coverage everywhere in the village. Things are complicated. At the town hall there is a signal at one spot, two metres away from it, the signal stops. There is neither internet, nor coverage." Stoitsov added.

"Senior people, 90 years old... I don't believe they will manage to do the registration. May be with the help of their grandchildren or children, it might be better for them," Petrov said.

More than 90% of business customers use electronic billing, according to research by the company. There has also been increased interest from residential subscribers in the service. And registration for the electronic option can be done, in addition to the Internet, via SMS or through an operator. Those who still want to continue to receive their invoice on paper should explicitly request it.

In small towns like this one, where the population is mostly elderly and internet connection is poor, the electricity distribution company said it was ready to organise mobile teams to help people with their choice of receiving a paper or electronic invoice after September.

"For me, it is better like this because of the unnecessary costs with these letters. With me now I get a bunch of letters and nobody is looking for them," Stoitsov said.

The e-invoice is completely free-of-charge and guarantees privacy protection. It meets all legal standards and helps customers easily control their spending, the electricity distribution company added.