November 2 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's utilities regulator said that it approved a wholesale price of natural gas applicable for November of 123.01 levs ($62.27/62.89 euro) per MWh, reflecting a sharp month-on-month decrease from the price of 233.36 levs ($116.93/119.31 euro) per MWh valid for October.
The regulator decided to further reduce the definitive price request of 123.47 levs per MWh lodged by public gas supplier Bulgargaz on October 31, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) said in a statement late on Monday.
The corrected price removed some 1.24 million levs in expenses stipulated by Bulgargaz for gas delivery through Bulgaria's virtual trading point (VTP).
The price mix includes the entire volume of natural gas which is being delivered from Azerbaijan at contracted prices via the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector and covers about a third of the country's energy needs, the regulator explained.
Bulgargaz has secured the required quantities of natural gas for the month through three separate suppliers and benefits from discounts of between 38% and 50% compared to current commodity prices on the European gas hubs.
The approved gas price for November is about half the price of 250 levs per MWh, which was the threshold above which Bulgarian companies had requested to receive compensations, the EWRC noted. The regulator also said that the reduction in the price of gas precludes the need to raise the prices of heating and hot water from January 1, 2023.
Last month, Bulgargaz initially proposed to utilities regulator to approve a decrease in the wholesale natural gas price for November by around 29% to 166.14 levs per MWh.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)