Caretaker Energy Minister Traycho Traykov commented after the Council of Ministers meeting that the topic of energy poverty has been on the table for at least 15 years and is pleased that a final document has now been adopted through focused and organized work. Earlier today, the caretaker government adopted the regulation on energy poverty and vulnerable customers.
According to the caretaker Energy Minister, there are two ways to obtain this energy-poor status - one is automated for certain categories of people and they do not need to submit applications, and the other is by submitting an application.
I advise people to carefully check the formulations in the regulation and assess which is the right way for them, said Traykov.
He explained that the automated process is for two groups of vulnerable people - those critically dependent on electrical life-support equipment and those from low-income families who have received targeted heating assistance during the previous heating season.
The regulatory framework gives us the opportunity for the responsible institutions to exchange data, explained the caretaker minister.
According to him, the liberalization of the electricity market for household consumers is already a fact, but people do not feel it because a special system of regulated prices has been introduced, with the difference between them and the market prices for the period being covered by the "Security of the Electricity System" fund and through a special segment of the Bulgarian Independent Energy Exchange. So there is liberalization, it is just that a mechanism has been found to protect household customers from potential negative effects in a period of volatile prices and crises of different nature, he noted.