The European Commission has approved a 278 million lev (142 million euros) in state aid for Bulgarian energy companies.
In a statement, the Commission said that the state aid aims to alleviate part of the costs incurred by companies that stored natural gas at Chiren underground gas facility to help the country reach its filling target before the start of the heating season in November 2022.
The Commission said that the scheme will compensate for part of their losses stemming from storing high-priced gas in summer 2022 to meet Bulgaria’s filling obligations and then selling it at lower prices from November 2022 to April 2024.
The state aid will be disbursed to the companies in the form of direct grants, with the aid amount capped at 150 lev (76.7 euro/MWh), while only half of the stored gas can be taken into account in calculating the final aid amount. The scheme will run until December 31, 2024, the EC said.
