Bulgaria's PM, Ministers, Discuss Power Rate Hike for Industrial Consumers

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov has summoned a meeting of all ministers over the planned increase in electricity prices for industrial consumers as of July 1.

Sunday's meeting at the Council of Ministers building in Sofia is to also include energy experts, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Television.

Representatives of the major employers' associations in Bulgaria, including the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG), the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), the Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA), and the Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers (BFIEC), have warned that the enterprises included in their panels will stop work for at least an hour a day as of next Friday to protest the measure.

Industrial energy consumers face an increase in power rates by 13-20% as of July 1.

Prime Minister Borisov has announced that he will back the protest of employers' associations, saying that the dramatic increase has to be postponed.

The energy watchdog has explained the need to increase power rates for industrial consumers with the need to prevent increases in the deficit at the state-owned power utility and in power rates for household consumers.

Businesses in Bulgaria, however, insist that they should not be made to pay for energy thefts, inefficient energy consumption, and the incompetent management of the energy sector.