Bulgaria freezes electricity, heating, water prices for households

The Bulgarian parliament has decided to freeze prices of electricity, heating and water for households until the end of March 2022.

The National Assembly of Bulgaria imposed a moratorium yesterday on any changes in electricity, water, and heating prices from January 1, 2021, local media reported.

However, today lawmakers adopted an amendment, freezing prices from December 16 until March 31. The decision will formally be implemented on the day of its official publication in the country’s official gazette.

The parliament has also voted to establish a temporary committee tasked with proposing measures to mitigate the effect of the energy crisis on household and industrial consumers of electricity.

Power prices on the IBEX exchange have risen 100 percent since the beginning of 2021

All the decisions are made by the assembly formed after the elections held on November 14. The new government was voted in this week.

According to data from Bulgaria’s power exchange IBEX, electricity prices at the day-ahead market rose about 100 percent from January. The price surge is causing problems all over the country.

A week ago, state-owned water and sewerage utilities announced they are facing bankruptcy due to high electricity prices caused by the energy crisis. The companies asked the authorities to raise the price of water as soon as possible.

At the end of October, Bulgaria’s interim government decided to introduce subsidies for industrial consumers as relief for high electricity prices.