The Cabinet will allocate 2 million leva to support the remaining households without electricity in the conditions of the complicated winter situation, the government press service announced.
Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev has spoken with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova and Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov. Over 20,000 households will be assisted in order to cope with the crisis situation.
The Prime Minister has spoken with the mayors of Gabrovo, Troyan and Teteven about the needs for assistance from the state. The Cabinet is also in constant contact with the regional governors of the affected regions. The Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Defense and the RIA are ready to intervene in places with heavy equipment.
By order of Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, an operational meeting was held this morning at the Ministry of Energy to identify additional measures. Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov spoke with representatives of the three electricity distribution companies to inform himself about the current situation and to identify where and with what state structures can provide assistance. On behalf of the "Road Infrastructure" Agency, General Directorate "Fire Safety and Population Protection" and state enterprises managing forest lands and ESO EAD will be supported in the work of the teams in the affected areas to reach the hard-to-reach areas where accidents have occurred and to eliminate them.
Along with the support for household consumers who have been left without electricity supply in recent days, options for supporting non-household customers will also be discussed.
Each of the three electricity distribution companies should pay the penalties provided for in the general terms and conditions of the contracts for access to the respective electricity distribution network. According to them, customers who have been left without power for more than 48 hours should receive a penalty of 30 leva for the first 24 hours after this period, and if the interruption is over 36 hours - 20 leva for 12 hours.
In addition to this, the state will double this compensation by paying 30 leva. to consumers who have been without power for more than 24 hours, and for each subsequent period of 12 hours - 20 BGN for each started period. The expected number of households is over 20,000, which will be assisted with a total of over 2 million BGN.
After a conversation with the Chairman of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission Ivan Ivanov and at the insistence of the Minister of Energy Malinov, it became clear that today the EWRC will begin an inspection regarding the implementation of the investment program for maintenance and repair of the electricity distribution network of the three electricity distribution companies for the current regulatory period.