April 21 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's energy regulator said on Wednesday that it approved an increase of the wholesale price of natural gas to 33.19 levs ($20.37/16.97 euro) per MWh in April, from 28.64 levs per MWh in March.
In its decision, the regulator took into account information about the market indices of the European gas hubs and the average euro/dollar exchange rate of the European Central Bank for the month of March, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) said in a statement.
The price adopted by the EWRC is slightly lower than the price of 33.38 levs per MWh sought by public gas supplier Bulgargaz at the beginning of this week.
Bulgarian energy regulations were changed last year, requiring Bulgargaz to set the gas price monthly instead of quarterly. The EWRC has the final say on the changes in the wholesale price sought by the state-owned company which sells natural gas to end-suppliers and customers directly connected to its transmission network.
In March 2020, Bulgargaz negotiated a 40.3% cut in the price of Russian natural gas imports based on an agreement between the European Commission and Russia's Gazprom.
Earlier this year, Bulgaria started receiving natural gas from Azerbaijan via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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