National Electric Company

Bulgaria's caretaker Minister of Economy and Energy Vasil Shtonov has argued that the power price hike by 10% as of October 1 is an unavoidable step for the stabilization of the market.

Electricity prices for the industry in Bulgaria are 20-30% higher than in Greece, which imports electricity from Bulgaria, according to Konstantin Stamenov from the Bulgarian Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers (BFIEC).

A power price hike will help inject slightly over BGN 200 M into the National Electric Company (NEK), while its losses are expected to reach BGN 1 B over the next year, according to Bulgaria's caretaker Minister of Economy and Energy.

Workers at Burgas-based Cherno More mine have spent more than 30 hours in the pit in protest over unpaid salaries.

Forty people refused to leave as their night shifts ended on Thursday morning, with 20 colleagues willing to join them in the afternoon.

Workers at Mina Cherno More Burgas EAD (Cherno More Mine EAD) are staging a 1-hour protest on Tuesday over unpaid salaries for the months of July and August.

Workers at the mine have threatened to stage an underground protest unless their demands are met within three days, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Electricity distribution company CEZ has proposed that its share in the consumer price of electricity be raised to a level which would allow it to maintain the energy grid.

The company has called on the energy regulator to set prices in a fair and transparent way, with grid operators placed on equal footing.

Power distributor EVN has submitted a tariff update request with Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), seeking a 17.9% price increase as of October 1, 2014.

State-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) has to collect a total of BGN 1.45 B of trade receivables and loans it has given out to filian companies, its interim 2014 report says.

Bulgaria's energy board is to be structured by the end of next week, according to Ekaterina Zaharieva, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister.

The southern Bulgarian municipality of Radnevo is virtually bankrupt, according to the Mayor, Yulian Ilchev.

In a Monday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, Ilchev said he expected urgent assistance from the caretaker government, adding that he had sent a letter to caretaker Prime Minister Georgi Bliznashki about the problem which Radnevo was facing.