site.btaTrade Union Flags Concerns over Energy Security in Commitments under National Recovery Plan

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) says in a statement published on Wednesday that it sees a number of commitments in the section on energy in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) which raise concerns about  energy security and cannot contribute in real terms to the sector's recovery and resilience. CITUB argues that in the context of the current crises of energy prices and energy resources, it is unacceptable to shut down reliable coal-fired energy facilities. 

CITUB insists on reconsidering the commitment in the NRRP for ensuring a reduction by 40 per cent until 2026 of the annual CO2 emissions from the power generation sector from their 2019 level, as this "will bind Bulgaria with conditions for a deep-going change in the Maritsa East energy complex as soon as in the next three years". 

The trade union also argues that the planned reform intended to improve the corporate management of the state-owned companies in the energy sector by separating them from the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) will give rise to grave administrative and financial problems which will affect the production and investment programmes of key enterprises employing thousands of people. 

Furthermore, stripping the National Electricity Company of its role as a public supplier and scrapping electricity quotas on the regulated market in 2022 will significantly impact the price of electricity for end customers. "Against the background of the current price crisis, it is inadmissible to plan for a liberalization of the electricity market for small customers which is set to commence in 2023 and continue in 2025," the statement reads. 

The trade union argues that scrapping the cross-subsidies to the companies under the umbrella of BEH, coupled with the liberalization of the market in 2023 and 2025, will result in having equal electricity prices for households and buyers on the free market, which will prove unaffordable to many households. 

CITUB further argues that the "envisaged project for a national infrastructure of electricity storage facilities with a total charge energy capacity of 6,000 MWh did not find support in the professional community and has not been included as an option in any strategic analysis of the development of the electricity sector in Bulgaria discussed in the past three months". CITUB holds that the scope of the project for big battery facilities should be cut back. 

The trade union says further that the territorial plans for just transition are mentioned only in passing in the NRRP and have been shifted in the remit of a new Energy Transition Commission and an advisory broad for the European Green Deal. CITUB suggests that in order to ensure a truly just transition in the coal-mining regions, a map of skills of the people working in the affected facilities is to be drawn up, along with establishing a state-owned company in charge of the conversion of coal regions. 

CITUB urges for adopting a national energy strategy until 2030, with a horizon until 2050, to guarantee that Bulgaria's energy security is safeguarded, and to ensure a just energy transition and coping with the social and economic challenges in the sector.