July starts with higher price of electricity and lower price of heating

The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) adopted a decision on the prices in the "Electricity" sector, which come into force from 1 July 2024 for the next one-year price period until 30.06.2025.

The Commission approved an average increase in the price of electricity for household consumers by 1.77%.

For customers of "Electrohold" the price increases by 3.10%, for EVN - by 1.85%, and for customers of "Energo Pro" it decreases by 0.49%. These prices include the prices for network services.

The Commission approved for each company an annual individual price of heat energy for the regulatory period from 1 July this year.

The EWRC approved the prices in the thermal power sector for the next one-year price period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, the regulator said.

In the next year, the prices of district heating services for residential customers across the country will be lower by 8.47% on average.

The Commission approved for each company an annual individual price of heat energy for the regulatory period from 1 July this year.

For "Sofia District Heating" the approved annual price of heat for household consumers is BGN 128.25/MWh, for "EVN District Heating" - BGN 127.19/MWh, for " District Heating - Pleven" - BGN 90.02/MWh. /MWh, for " District Heating - Burgas" - 81,77 BGN/MWh, "Veolia Energy Varna" EAD - 131,86 BGN/MWh, " District Heating - Vratsa" EAD - 100,25 BGN/MWh, " District Heating - VT" - 128,61 BGN/MWh, " District Heating - Razgrad" - 131,08 BGN/MWh, District Heating - Ruse - 92,92 lv. /MWh , District Heating - Pernik - BGN 107,59 /MWh, District Heating - Sliven - BGN 93,34 /MWh,

Consumers of " District Heating Sofia" will pay 7.02% less. The decrease is less than the 30% announced in the company's application, as this would be cross-subsidization between the heat and electricity produced and would be in violation of Article 31, item 6 of the Energy Act.

This would ensure a lower price of thermal energy for the consumers of "the district heating company in Sofia at the expense of a higher price of electricity paid by all consumers in the country. In the EWRC's decision, the company's excess revenues of BGN 199 million were deducted from the electricity premium from the Electricity System Security Fund for the next regulatory period. If this had not been done, this premium would not have been at the current level of BGN 100.99/MWh , but BGN 265 higher - about BGN 365/MWh, the EWRC said.

The price for customers of District Heating company “EVN Bulgaria” EAD is 7.81% lower. In Pleven the decrease is by 7.14%, and the biggest decrease is for "District Heating - Burgas" AD - by 14.11%. In Varna the price decrease is 3.74%, in Vratsa - 11.35%, in Veliko Tarnovo - 2.44%. In Razgrad the decrease is 9.94%, in Ruse - 11.98%, in Pernik - 7.20%, in Sliven - 10.41%.

Prior to the adoption of the price decision on 13 June 2024, the utilities regulator held a public discussion to which all interested parties were invited.