Bulgarian Energy Minister Reports of Irregularities at Energo-Pro EDC

Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova announced that irregularities have been identified at the energy distribution company (EDC) Energo-Pro, which operates in the northeast of the country.

Petkova said that this emerged from the inspections at the three EDCs that were ordered on Monday, after 67 000 customers of Energo-Pro had received double bills for the same period.

Petkova revealed in an interview for private bTV station on Friday that some of the electricity meters had their seals broken, while others had inaccurate watches.

She pointed that the metering system of the company was organised in such a way that the customer receives a notification that a new bill is due, but sees the invoice only at the time of payment.

Furthermore, Energo-Pro customers are not provided with the opportunity to check consumed energy for previous periods, something which is available for customers of CEZ and EVN.

The Energy Minister did not express an opinion whether this represented a new attempt to instigate protests.

However she pointed to the similarities with the events that started in January 2013 and subsequently led to the resignation of the first cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

She assured that the inspections were continuing, while the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) was carrying out its own parallel investigation.

Petkova supported the proposal for a ten-fold increase of the fines imposed on the EDCs, which was first expressed by former Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev on Monday.