All district heating providers had to submit their price proposal to Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (KEVR) by the end of March. Other companies also demand heating price hikes, ranging from 5 to 71 %. Sofia district heating service provider Toplofikatsiya Sofia seeks an increase in prices of heating and hot water of 15 % as of July 2021, according to data published by KEVR. The company is also seeking for an increase of 32 % in the price of electricity produced by its cogeneration plants.
For example, the provider in Plovdiv, the second largest such company in Bulgaria, has requested an increase of 23 %. The highest increases were requested by heating providers in Veliko Tarnovo (71 %) and Pernik (61 %), followed by Vratsa with 41 % increase, Burgas with 33 % and Pleven by 16 %, while the lowest hikes were requested by companies in Varna – 7 % and Sliven – 5 %. In case of electricity production for high-efficiency cogeneration, the price increases range from 17 to 40 %.
KEVR will consider these requests during June, but previous practices show that the regulator usually approves much lower price hikes than those submitted by the companies. One of the main reasons for proposed price hikes is significant increase in the price of natural gas in 2021 so far.
