Bulgaria's centre-right government said on Sunday it opposes a plan by the country's energy regulator to increase electricity prices for industrial consumers as of July. The state-owned Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (KEVR) announced plans to increase power rates for industrial consumers by up to 20 percent from July 1 in an effort to cut huge deficits in the inefficient energy sector.
Electricity costs are a politically sensitive issue in the European Union's poorest country, where power bills consume a large slice of household income, especially in winter. The previous Socialist-led government, which resigned in July 2014, cut power prices twice during its 14 months in office, aiming to avert a repeat of street demonstrations against power prices that had toppled the earlier centre-right government in 2013.
All major domestic employer associations reacted angrily to the plan, saying they should not have to pay for inefficient energy consumption and the incompetent management of the energy sector.
Their anger remained even after the government said earlier this week that large companies that consume over 30 GWh a year will benefit from a 85 percent discount on the renewable energy component of the "obligation to society" fee on the energy consumed above that threshold. Representatives of the employer associations have warned that the enterprises included in their rolls will stop work for at least an hour a day as of next Friday to protest against the proposed price hike.
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