Endocrine disruptor

As a successful harvesting season yielding several hundred tons of lavender oil wraps up in Bulgaria - the world's top producer - the industry's future looks more grey than purple.

With a global production glut already weighing on prices, Bulgarian distillers now fear new EU regulations will further crimp business.

The global pact for the environment, one of the topics to be discussed on Tuesday with the European Union (EU) environment ministers, represents the consolidated future of the agreement on international environmental legislation, Romania's Minister of Environment Gratiela Gavrilescu said in Brussels on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of the Environment Council.

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.

The Chair of the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) Svetla Todorova announced that an increase in the price of electricity was unavoidable during the year.

Todorova assured that the anticipated hike will not happen in April, but she specified neither a concrete date nor the amount by which the price will increase, daily Dnevnik reports.

Members of the parliamentary Energy Committee will hold a hearing of the three electricity distribution companies (EDCs) operating in Bulgaria.

The three EDCs - CEZ, EVN and Energo-Pro, will have to explain the reasons behind the high electricity bills issued for the past month, private NOVA TV reports.

GERB MP Delyan Dobrev - former energy minister and current head of the energy committee in Parliament - warned the EDCs not to extend the periods of electric meters readings.

Nearly 13 000 households are still without electricity in Bulgaria's north-east and another 10 000 experience disruptions in its north-central regions after the first snow for 2014 fell on Saturday.

The deadline for Bulgaria's Electricity Distribution Companies (EDCs) to present their standpoint in the dispute with energy watchdog DKEVR expires on Monday.

It has been extended twice so far, after the National Electricity Company (NEK) presented new proofs in the dispute on the debts of the EDCs.