site.btaHouseholds Need BGN 1,000 Annually to Cope with High Energy Costs - Experts

Households should receive BGN 1,000 a year to cope with high energy costs, according to Georgi Toshev, Chairman of the Institute for Resource Development and Management, and Peyo Mayorski, Chairman of the Association for Consumer Protection. The two gave a news conference here on Tuesday at BTA's National Press Club.

The amount is indicative, it may be higher and will be determined by the money collected from the taxation of the excess profits of energy companies. Bogomil Nikolov, chairman of the Bulgarian National Association "Active Users", and Kalin Slavov, Executive Director of Transparency International - Bulgaria, said that the money collected from the companies' excess profits could be over BGN 10 billion.

Such aid should also be directed to small and medium enterprises, they argued.

The representatives of the four NGOs pointed out that there is less than a week to go before Regulation 2022/1854 comes into force and Bulgaria has not yet developed methodologies for its implementation. The regulation enables member states to tackle high energy prices by providing comprehensive mechanisms for them to collect excess revenues from electricity generators. A key priority of the Regulation is to put in place mechanisms to ensure that the funds collected reach households and citizens.  The refusal of the members of the Parliamentary Energy Committee in the National Assembly last week to take a firm stance, as well as the signals given by the caretaker Government, create the conditions for circumventing the Regulation, and households will be left to struggle with the energy crisis and the inflation of the consumer basket which is already approaching 40%, participants in the press conference said.

The BGN 1,000 allowance could be fine-tuned according to the number of household members or set to the size of the dwelling occupied, the experts said, adding that the money should be given in cash, and everyone should decide what to spend it on.

Bogomil Nikolov said many people are now considering how to change their heating source. There is a great demand for air conditioners and getting an air conditioner installed is becoming "a real holiday," he said. Except that buildings are not designed to undergo a change of the type of heating, the network may not endure, which may lead to breakdowns and power cuts. This can hurt households because people spend a lot of money on air conditioners, according to Nikolov. This uncertainty needs to be overcome with a clear commitment from the government on the price of energy so that people will no longer wonder what type of heating to choose. There will be money, but the question is how to spend it fairly, he said, adding that as a matter of urgency, a scheme should be set up to promote the use of solar energy. However, the procedure is in the hands of the grid operators, and they can write them in such a way that they discourage anyone willing to invest in renewable energy capacities, according to Nikolov.