MPs to Vote on Amendments Envisaging Regular Review of Electricity Prices
Parliament will vote on Wednesday on amendments to the Energy Act which provide for a regular review of electricity prices, clearing the way to a proposed cut in the tariff.
Currently, electricity prices in the country are being updated once a year.
The amendments, which were approved by the parliamentary economic committee on Tuesday, were submitted to parliament by the committee's chairman Martin Dimitrov and the deputy floor leader of the ruling GERB party, Dian Chervenkondev, the Bulgarian National Radio reported.
Reacting to street rallies against high electricity prices last week prime minister Boiko Borisov proposed to the energy regulator a series of measures which would lead to an 8.0% drop in electricity prices as of March 1. These include reducing the energy distribution companies' regulator-approved costs and increasing the share of cheap electricity generated by the country's Kozloduy nuclear power plant in the energy mix, on the basis of which the bills of end-consumers are calculated.
However, the proposed measures, coupled with a reshuffle in the centre-right cabinet and the prime minister's announcement that the licence of one of the energy distributors in the country would be revoked, failed to ease the tension and a few days the government resigned.