Bulgaria: Bulgargaz to soften 34% gas price jump with storage gas
The state supplier had requested €59.08 per megawatt-hour for November. Extra gas from the Chiren storage site is now set to bring the price down. The regulator decides on 2 November.
Archive image · Photo: Tourbillon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Bulgarian state gas supplier Bulgargaz plans to revise its request for a sharply higher gas price for November. The company had initially asked the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (KEVR) for €59.08 per megawatt-hour – 34% more than the October price of €44.09 approved by the regulator. Network fees, excise duty and VAT come on top. At a public hearing on Wednesday, Bulgargaz chief executive Georgi Tatarski announced a correction.
Bulgargaz had taken part in a tender for additional withdrawals from the Chiren underground storage facility, Tatarski said. The volumes had been increased, allowing the company to correct its initial proposal. The new request is to be filed by the end of the month and, according to Tatarski, will remain around €40 below prices on the Dutch TTF gas exchange.
KEVR chairman Plamen Mladenovski said 60% to 70% of the price is directly tied to international quotations, especially the TTF, which neither the government nor the regulator can influence. European storage is historically empty ahead of winter, and prices in Europe are 11 to 12 times higher than in the US, he said. He urged Bulgargaz to cushion the rise for households and district heating companies and warned of more payment defaults. The final decision will be taken at a closed session on 2 November.