State Commission for Energy

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).

The Bulgarian energy regulator DKEVR is to have a new Chair on Wednesday as the Council of Ministers is expected to approve a new head at its regular session.

Svetla Todorova, a former State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) member, is tipped to assume the office, daily Sega reports.

Seven ambassadors have expressed concern in a letter to the Bulgarian Parliament Speaker over restrictions proposed by the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR).

The letter, signed by the ambassadors of Austria, UK, the Republic of Korea, US, France, the Czech Republic, and Japan, was submitted to Parliament on June 30, according to reports of Sega daily.

Bulgaria's state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz has warned that a gas price cut will put it into a difficult financial situation.

Alexander Petrov, head of a department of Bulgargaz, presented the opinion of the company on the gas price cut proposal of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) at an open sitting of DKEVR on gas prices as of July 1, 2014.

Bulgaria's energy watchdog has sent two complaints to the European Commission concerning unlawful State aid to two US-owned thermal power plants and to renewable energy producers.

Renewable energy producers have threatened to sue Bulgaria's energy watchdog due to its intentions to impose a dramatic reduction in preferential tariffs.

The decrease in the preferential tariff for wind farms is by 20-22% and for photovoltaic plants by over 50%, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).

Bulgaria's energy watchdog has sought changes to the contracts with US-owned thermal power plants AES-3C Maritza East 1 EOOD and Contur Global Maritsa Iztok-3.

If grid operators in Bulgaria do not comply with the law, the national energy watchdog DKEVR will suspend their licenses, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski said.

Oresharski added he had no information of political pressure applied on the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) regarding permits of power distributors, according to the website Expert.bg.

Representatives of Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association (BPA) were hindered from entering Bulgarian energy watchdog DKEVR's session on Monday.

Members of the BPA said that their commercial interests had been infringed by the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) after the latter decided they could not attend the meeting, the website Expert.bg reported.

Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev informed that the National Electric Company (NEK) had not received payments from the power distributors by Tuesday.