Heating and hot water in Sofia may increase in price by nearly 30% from January 1, if the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission revises the tariffs. This was warned about in the program “This Morning“ by the former Deputy Chairman of EWRC and former Deputy Minister of Energy Elenko Bozhkov.
His forecast comes after “Bulgargaz“ announced a 34% increase in the price of natural gas from November 1. For October, the regulator approved a price of 44.09 euros per megawatt-hour, and the proposal for November is for 59.08 euros per megawatt-hour. The EWRC is yet to determine the final price, with the open discussion of the application scheduled for October 28.
“With such an increase in natural gas, this is quite possible, because there are no reserves“, commented Bozhkov. According to him, natural gas forms over half of the price of thermal energy, and at “Toplofikatsiya Sofia“ its share reaches about 70%.
Gas and carbon emissions are the main factors
In addition to fuel costs, the price of carbon emissions is also added. Bozhkov pointed out that they represent about 20% of the cost of thermal energy. When setting the tariffs, the EWRC used an estimated value of 75 euros, while according to the expert, emissions already cost about 82 euros.
With an increase in natural gas by nearly 34%, the price of heating energy in Sofia could increase by about 29%, Bozhkov estimates. He allows for the possible increase to be limited to about 20%, but expressed doubt that this will be achieved.
The change would affect both heating and domestic hot water supply, since both services use thermal energy. At this stage, there is no decision for such an increase, and the percentages indicated are Bozhkov's forecast, related to the movement of the price of natural gas.
Warning also about the price of electricity
Bozhkov warned that the increase in the price of natural gas in Europe also has an impact on electricity. “Although the price of electricity in Bulgaria is not so directly related to natural gas, when the price of gas in Europe rises, the price of electricity also rises“, he explained.
According to him, a distinction should be made between household and non-household consumers, including businesses, schools, hospitals and shops. For households, there is an opportunity to keep the price down by using cheaper electricity from nuclear power plants and state-owned hydroelectric power plants. Bozhkov, however, warned that this limits the funds available to these producers for investments.
Sources: btvnovinite.bg, bta.bg, nova.bg