The price of water in Sofia will increase by 20% this year, they want “Sofia Voda” AD. The requested price increase for Sofia is 20 percent. KEVR and MRRB propose to untie the price hike with legislative changes.
The price of water in Sofia will increase by 20%, according to an application by “Sofia Water” AD, which was submitted to the Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (KEVR). For a period of three years, the proposed increase in the price of water in the capital is nearly 30 percent. At the same time, with legislative changes from KEVR and the Ministry of Regional Development, they want to untie the increase in the price of water. Currently, there is a requirement that the price of water be socially acceptable, that is, with a consumption of 2.8 cubic meters per person, the water bill should not exceed 2.5% of the average income per person for the respective area.
Stolichians currently pay BGN 2.94 per cubic meter of water including VAT. The offer of “Sofia Voda” is that the price this year will rise to BGN 3.52 per cubic meter. But in the next two years, another increase is foreseen, and so for a period of three years, the total requested increase in the price of water is 29.5%, writes “Trud”.
Since the beginning of the year, water has become more expensive in the country, but in Sofia it has remained unchanged. The price of water in the capital has not been changed for several years because the business plan of “Sofia Water” was not approved. And the business plan itself was not approved because of a legal dispute over the rate of return on the capital invested by the company.
In Northwestern Bulgaria, thanks to the requirement that the price of water be socially acceptable, in Vidin, from January 1 this year, the price of water rose by only 28.6% to BGN 4.48 per cubic meter. With the increase in the price of water since the beginning of the year, the prices in Vidin and Yambol, determined according to the KEVR methodology, should have been higher, but the limitation of social affordability imposed a ceiling on the price increase. For the last reporting period, a two-member household received a water bill of around BGN 40-44, a four-member household - a little over BGN 60.
People from the Vidin region are among the “lucky” who have water and do not suffer from a water regime.
The price of water in Varna has risen to BGN 5.49 per cubic meter since the beginning of the year. However, in villages and cottage areas, gardens and lawns are watered en masse with tap water. About 10% of the settlements in the district are on the regime. The situation is worst in the municipality of Avren, where the population has increased several times in recent years, and the local water sources do not have the capacity to cover the growing needs, among which is the filling of pools in bar houses and rented villas. There are chronic problems with water supply in settlements in the municipalities of Dolni chiflik, Byala, Valchi dol and Suvorovo. Because of the permanent drought, the mayors believe that the waterworks holding should provide not loans, but free financing of municipal projects for new deep-sea drilling and rehabilitation of water pipes.
A different approach to raising the price of water is offered by the Ministry of Water Resources and Energy and the KEVR. They propose to introduce a "water meter" fee, that is, citizens should pay only for having a water meter, even if they do not consume water, the ministry suggests.
The price of water should include two components - a fixed component for the fact that people have access to water, and a variable component - the price per cubic meter of the amount of water consumed, provides for a draft Law on Water Supply and Sewerage released by the Ministry of Public discussion.
The draft law provides for maintaining the requirement that the price of water be socially acceptable. But the project states that the principle of social affordability is respected when the value of the variable component of the price of water at a consumption of 2.8 cubic meters per person does not exceed 2.5% of the average income of a person for the relevant area. But since we add a “water meter” fee to the variable part of the water price. the actual price paid by households will be higher than the socially acceptable price.
The application of the criterion that the prices of water supply services should be below the threshold of social tolerability creates exceptional problems for water supply operators, for whom, due to the specificity of the territory in which they operate, the prices should exceed this threshold, KEVR points out. According to KEVR, even if the price of water is below the socially acceptable threshold, this does not guarantee access to water supply services for the poorest. The KEVR proposes that the poorest be given aid so that they can pay for 2.8 cubic meters of water, and the rest pay a water price without a ceiling.
The main reasons for the shortage of drinking water are severe drought and rising temperatures. At the same time, an 87% drop in water quantities was recorded in Northern Bulgaria compared to last year, it was announced after a working meeting held by the regional ministry by order of Acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev.
According to the data of the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, 2024 is the third dry and hot year in a row, and the month of June was the hottest since 1930, making this year the longest drought period more than three months.
Drinking water losses through old water supply networks in certain settlements, as well as irrigation losses through amortized irrigation systems, are also among the main reasons for the lack of water in many regions.
MRRD specifies that a hydromelioration analysis will be prepared, which will show both the options for improving water supply and the need for repair and construction of new artificial reservoirs.