site.btaGovernment Is Looking for Ways to Equalize Bills for Different Type of Heating

"One of the priority initiatives of the government is to equalize home heating bills for various types of heating such as gas, electricity and central heating and avoid switching between," caretaker Energy Minister Rosen Hristov told a news conference on Friday.

Of businesses and industrial consumers, the government is trying the introduce the principle of transparency and comply with EU regulations in order to achieve the energy saving target and reduce peak consumption. "The compensation that we are going to discuss next week will be based on a non-blanket approach. Larger compensation will be paid to companies which have invested or are investing in energy efficiency and reducing consumption," said the Minister

Of increasing block pricing for household electricity consumers, the Minister said that experts are looking for ways to set a level of consumption above which the rate will be higher. "Data show that in the winter a household consumes 800 KWh monthly which accounts for 90% of consumers. In the summer, the consumption is 300 KWh. The government will propose that up to 800 KWh in winter and up to 300 KWh in the summer will be at subsidized prices. Consumption which exceeds this threshold will be at market prices," said Hristov.

"Along with the diversification of natural gas sources we are working to reduce dependency on Russian nuclear fuel and introduce a competitive approach to source nuclear fuel from European American companies," he added.

Under the Bulgarian Energy Holding a special group of Bulgarian and international experts has been set up which will tackle nuclear issues, said the Minister. According to him, the aim is to find the best supplier of nuclear fuel for Kozloduy N-plant, focusing on safety.