BG: The electricity prices have gone up between 13,2%-17,9%

Assessment of the Impact of the Price Increase Over the Customers and the Energy Companies

13.6% higher prices for the household – clients of CEZ

If your household is a client of CEZ, your electricity bill for July 2012 will be higher by 2,1 stotinki/kWh. SEWRC has increased the price with 13,6% and a kWh will already cost 17,6 instead of the previous 15.5 stotinki (incl. VAT). At an average annual consumption of 3 MWh the expenses of a household for electricity will rise with 48 BGN per year or with 4 BGN per month. Thus your total annual expenses of 465 BGN will rise to 513 BGN. Similar or slightly higher (17,9 – 18,1 stotinki/kWh) will be the electricity bills of the households – clients of EVN and EON.

14.2% higher prices for the non-household clients of CEZ, connected to the low voltage grid

From 147 to 168 BGN/MWh (no VAT incl.) will rise the price of the non-household low voltage clients of CEZ. The same category of clients of EVN and EON will buy electricity at prices higher with up to 10-12% of these of CEZ. This can be explained with the differences in the prices of energy and/or the distribution and access price along the distribution network.

The household prices remain lower than the prices for low voltage business customers

The household and the business customers connected to the low voltage network pay the same prices for distribution and access to the grid and the same supplements to the distribution prices. The lower by 2 to 4 stotinki/kWh end price for households is due to the respective lower tariffs for energy, which SEWRC have set for them. Thus the cross subsidizing from the business to the households still remains.

The suppliers of last resort CEZ, EON and EVN will continue to lose from the sales of electricity to the households

The suppliers of last resort invoice and collect the liabilities from the households for the used electricity. The collected amounts are allocated in compliance with the set by SEWRC prices to:

NEK – Public Provider as payments for power purchasing
NEK – Transmission company for the service “transmission through the transmission network”
ESO – for access to system services
Distribution companies – for the service electricity distribution through the distribution network
The budget – VAT.

The suppliers of last resort could earn their revenue only if the energy tariff prices (day/night) are higher than the price at which they by the energy from NEK. As per the current prices this could not practically happen – their revenue from energy for the households will vary between 6 and 7.5 stotinki/kWh, and at the same time they will buy it from NEK at 7.9 stotinki/kWh.

15.2% higher prices for CEZ clients, connected to the medium voltage grid

Instead of 110, these CEZ clients will pay 126 BGN/MWh (no VAT incl.). Much higher – up to 20% – are the regulated prices for medium voltage clients, connected to the grids of EVN and EON.

The big difference of the prices of electricity delivered through the medium voltage and low voltage networks is due to the significant cost of the maintenance of the low voltage network and to the high technological losses of energy during its distribution through this network. In comparison, the prices set by SEWRC for distribution through medium voltage network are approximately 6 times lower than the prices set for distribution through low voltage network.

50% higher prices for the users of the grid

The users of the grid (the traders and the clients on the free market) have to prepare 34,3 instead of 22.9 BGN/MWh, in order to transport electricity through the transmission network which they bought at free market prices. They are obliged to pay not only the price of the transmission service but also all supplements to it. The additional nearly 12 BGN/MWh will be allocated:

to NEK – Public Provider for compensation of irrecoverable costs, which originated in long term contracts and from RES purchase in past periods – 6.38 BGN
to new RES producers – 4.38 BGN
to the district heating companies for promoting the combined electricity production – 1 BGN

Recapitulation: 600 million BGN additional revenue for the power industry

The clients and the users of the grid will pay about 600 million BGN more for electricity for the period July 2012 – June 2013 compared to the previous one-year period, respectively:

390 million BGN – from the regulated market (the clients of low and medium voltage)
210 million BGN – from the free market (the users of the grid – traders and clients on the free market)

Recapitulation: 330 million BGN – for NEK, 190 – for RES, 40 – for coal fired power plants outside of NEK, 40 – for district heating companies and autoproducers.

The additional revenue of 600 million BGN will be collected and allocated, applying the following mechanism:

to NEK by the higher regulated prices of its power producing mix – about 70 million BGN
to NEK by the new supplement for irrecoverable costs – about 140 million BGN
to NEK by the supplement for green energy because of acknowledged by SEWRC losses for the previous year – 120 million BGN
to the new RES by a higher supplement for green energy – about 190 million BGN
to the district heating companies and autoproducers by a supplement for highly efficient combined electricity production – about 40 million BGN
to other power plants outside the NEK mix (Bobovdol, Maritza East 3, Varna) – about 40 million BGN.

NB. The values are calculated under the following assumptions: 60% daily and 40% nightly tariff for the households and under 20% peak, 60% daily and 20% nightly tariff for the business customers.