April 1 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's energy regulator said on Wednesday that it has approved a 42.78% decrease in the regulated wholesale gas price for April, in line with recent amendments in a contract between state-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz and Russia's Gazprom Export.
The price in April will fall by 18.84 levs ($10.53/9.63 euro) to 25.20 levs per MWh, excluding VAT and excise duty, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission said in a statement.
As a result of the drop in gas prices, the energy regulator has decided to reduce by an average 21.84% the price of heating services provided by utilities running mainly on natural gas as of April 1, it said in a separate statement on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Bulgargaz negotiated a 40.3% cut in the price of Russian natural gas imports based on an agreement between the European Commission and the Russian company. Bulgargaz and Russia’s Gazprom changed the pricing formula, setting as its main component the price on the regional markets instead of that of petroleum derivatives.
Bulgarian energy regulations were recently changed and now require Bulgargaz to set the gas price on a monthly instead of quarterly basis.
The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) has the final say on the proposed changes in the wholesale price, at which the state-owned company sells natural gas to end-suppliers and customers directly connected to its transmission network.
Bulgaria currently imports almost all of the natural gas it needs from Russia. The country intends to diversify half of its imports this year.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
Bulgargaz EAD is among the biggest companies in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here