The postponement of the liberalization of the price of electricity is expected. The Center predicted that liberalization will not be achieved as promised more than 10 years ago, as it is a matter of fear of unpreparedness and, accordingly, uncertainty about the effect on consumers, voters. Ruslan Stefanov, program director and chief economist at the Center for the Study of Democracy, commented on this in an interview with BNR.
„The Bulgarian Parliament did what the Parliament and Government had done many times before – postponement. In its wake, this drags continued subsidization of various activities in the energy sector, including richer households at the expense of poorer ones”, the economist explained.
According to him, there will also be complications due to the “non-arriving second tranche” under the Recovery and Development Plan.
„It also shows the lack of an idea of a strategy based on analysis and recommendations, something we have been showing for years and the distortions in the electricity market will continue, he added.
His criticism is that “no explanatory campaign was made“ and compared it “similar to the situation with the euro, something we have been accepting for a decade”.
Stefanov recalled that we have “the commitments made within the EU already with the membership and the energy packages of 2009, this liberalization is starting to be prepared”.
„For households, liberalization was never included. There are imbalances in the market and this allows households to be subsidized for electricity. On the other hand, it allows continued subsidization of the prices of producers of coal plants, etc., soon also for nuclear energy. It continues to arbitrarily move some funds back and forth so that it is not clear to the end user what he is paying for and at what time. This allows politicians to manipulate their voters, naturally being able to explain price increases and decreases with political arguments, not with the role of the market,” commented the chief economist of the CID.
He rejected predictions that the price of electricity would jump by 20% and explained:
"Consumers who are not well informed are at risk of electricity prices jumping because they do not know how to manage their own consumption. Otherwise, of course, there may be an increase in the price, but it will by no means be so automatic."
According to Ruslan Stefanov, “the best way to protect the interests of households and producers is market liberalization, because I know what and at what time of the day you pay”. At the moment “everything is leveled for everyone”.
„These concerns exist, but they are because people are not being educated. We see how government after government and parliament after parliament do not bother to educate people, but only scare them in order to use them for political purposes. All of Europe has gone through this process and negatives and positives are known. And this requires work that is not related to commissions, but rather to the literacy of consumers and clear rules for manufacturers," commented Ruslan Stefanov in the program "Sunday 150".
About the contract signed by Radev's office with the Turkish “Botash” Stefanov commented:
"The report of the commission was published and you can see how without analysis and forecasts and political agreement, a caretaker government signed a contract that obliges the state until 2035. And everything sank into political talk. Radev refuses to say the sequel – when would this diversification make sense?“
„The nuclear facilities at the Kozloduy NPP, as well as the report on the “Botash” are without any analysis and long-term planning. Once again, huge sums are being spent on the Bulgarian economy. Not only is it not clear, but it is yet another example of how Bulgaria does not have a non-politicized internal debate and is without an active national energy strategy,” commented Ruslan Stefanov.