Bulgarian Minister of Energy Alexander Nikolov said that between December 2021 and April 2022, compensations of over 2 billion euros, which is over 3 % of the country’s GDP, have been returned to the economy.
Minister Nikolov said that in the same period, household spending on electricity and heating has remained unchanged. By comparison, the average cost of electricity in Europe increased by 30 % over the same period. He stressed that all requested compensations to businesses were paid and despite the huge volume of transactions, there is no indication of incorrectly translated or incorrectly paid compensations.
As of March 23, compensations of 114 million euros have been paid for natural gas, energy distribution companies have received 240 million euros as a result of compensation for technological costs. Direct compensations for business consumers, corporate compensations for businesses have amounted to 740 million euros so far. Nikolov said that compensations for businesses will be extended in April as well.
He also said that a loan related to the payment of a fine from the European Commission to the National Electricity Company (NEK) will be repaid, respectively the funds will be returned to the Ministry of Finance and from there back to the Bulgarian economy.
Regarding inspections in electricity distribution companies, the Minister said that he would be more than happy to have such in view of the fact that this would increase the transparency of the way the companies are managed.
