"Bulgargaz" Confirms Natural Gas Price for May at 35.98 Euros per MWh

"Bulgargaz" confirmed its initial proposal for the price of natural gas for May at 35.98 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh), excluding access fees, transmission, excise duty and VAT. This happened at an open meeting of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC), at which the public supplier's proposal was considered.

The executive director of "Bulgargaz", Veselin Sinabov, noted that the company had familiarized itself with the report of the working group regarding the proposal and had no remarks, adding that at the moment there was no reason to change the initially submitted application. 

The EWRC approved a price of natural gas for April in the amount of 34.27 euros per megawatt-hour, excluding access fees, transmission, excise duty and VAT. This means that the price offered by "Bulgargaz" for May is 4.99 percent higher. 

In response to a question from the chairman of the EWRC, Plamen Mladenovski, regarding the end of the heating season, whether a reduction in the quantities of natural gas from customers is expected for the next month or whether it has already been reflected in the applications submitted by them, Sinabov commented that he expects a decrease. It is still cold, "Toplofikacia Sofia" and the other district heating companies are working and the heating season has not yet ended. Their forecasts when applying for the annual quantities were lower, they expected warmer weather and despite this there is an increase in applications compared to those declared before the beginning of the year, explained Sinabov.

It is still cold weather and the heating season has not ended, although some of the district heating companies announced that they would stop the heat supply, Plamen Mladenovski noted, recalling that the season usually ends at the end of March or the first ten days of April. This year, indeed, the weather is not with us, as well as the geopolitical situation, but let's hope that it will get better and the heating season will end sooner, and the applications to "Bulgargaz" will decrease, so that we can cope with the Azerbaijani quantities, he said. 

In this regard, Veselin Sinabov pointed out that household customers have received a good price during the heating season. From now on, business and electricity production applications will be adjusted to the market conditions, he added. Mladenovski also noted that the price of "Bulgargaz", if compared to the previous year, for the heating season was about 20 percent lower. 

Regarding the expectations for the price of natural gas in June, Sinabov commented that everything depends on the geopolitical situation and consumption. The chairman of the EWRC, Plamen Mladenovski, informed that the regulator's final decision on the price of natural gas for May will be made at a closed meeting on April 30.