What can we do if we are not satisfied with the equalization bill from the past heating season… Maya Manolova, leader of “Izpra se bg“, speaks to FAKTI.
- Mrs. Manolova, it is the end of August and the equalization bills for heating have arrived. How were they calculated after there were changes to the Regulation?
- This year too, the equalization bills are unrealistically high and are blowing up the citizens. In the office of “Izpra se bg“, we saw all sorts of paradoxes. Here is an example. For pipes passing through a garage, the building installation bill is nearly 500 leva. For a three-room apartment of 90 square meters, the equalization bill is 1700 leva, and 1600 leva has already been paid. Things look even more absurd.
- Because…
- Because the formula by which building installation is calculated has already been canceled by the Supreme Administrative Court and its decision entered into force on February 25, 2025. After that, the deputies made several attempts to introduce a new formula through other laws - through the Cybersecurity Act, through the Renewable Energy Sources Act, through the state budget. Ultimately, these attempts were thwarted. Then, absolutely illegally, the Minister of Energy returned the old formula, which I repeat was canceled by the court, to operate retroactively from February 25. Many citizens requested the suspension of the building installation formula, and the Supreme Administrative Court suspended it. And now its final cancellation is awaited.
So right now, if people are going to pay invoices on equalization accounts for building installation, they should know that their account is illegal.
I most likely expect the formula to be finally canceled by the Supreme Administrative Court.
- When is this expected to happen?
- In the coming months. Cases in the Supreme Administrative Court are moving quickly. Most likely, the final decision on the suspension of the preliminary execution will be pronounced in the next ten days or so, and the final ruling on the illegality of the formula - in the coming months. In addition, the reproduction of a formula that has been annulled by the court renders the act of the Minister of Energy null and void, and its reverse effect is unconstitutional, because, as the Constitutional Court has already ruled, citizens cannot be charged with obligations retroactively.
Currently, citizens are being burdened with bills that are calculated according to a annulled and illegal formula.
Most likely, all of this will be annulled by the court.
- Does this mean that if this mess is cleared up now, there will be no formula for building installation in next year's bills?
- The bills for next year should be fairer. There were ideas that were discussed for a maximum percentage of building installation, and the proposals were for about 20%. Currently, what we see is that there are bills for citizens in which building installation reaches 60% and above. Apparently, the lobby of heat accountants has prevailed over the deputies and the Minister of Energy. Imagine, if building installation becomes 20%, for example, this will make heat accountants practically unnecessary. They are already unnecessary because “Toplofikatsiya Sofia“ could carry out this activity itself, and not transfer it to others. And anyway, heat accountants are also raising their fees without citizens being able to object to this.
- Currently, this service is given to external companies, a fact …
- And so these companies profit on the backs of citizens. Here I want to open a bracket. I want to call on citizens to file objections to the equalization bills for heating by August 31. It is best to do so by the end of Friday. If the heating accountants refuse to accept these objections, to submit them directly to “Toplofikatsiya Sofia“. We already have signals that one of the heating accountants categorically refuses to accept objections, although he is obliged by law, and another heating accountant claims that he is moving his office and will not work until September 1. After our intervention, the second heating accountant announced that he will accept objections until 1 p.m. on Friday. Let people file objections to the equalization bill by August 31, because this is the way to later have a subsequent court appeal of these illegal charges. We – from “Stand Up BG“, we are considering filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of the citizens against “Toplofikatsiya Sofia“ for these illegal invoices, for these equalization bills. Before that, we simply have to go through the process of filing an objection. Every resident of the capital who pays for a building installation, who has unrealistically high bills for hot water, for heating energy, should file an objection. On the “Stand Up BG“ page, on my Facebook page, we have provided a link on how to write a sample objection. Let people who are having difficulty see it. They just have to fill in some data. If they can't handle it, they can call me. I have also left my phone number to assist them by Friday at the end of the working day.
- Let's move from heating to water, because in KEVR there was a discussion of the new general terms and conditions of “Sofiiska voda“. What happened?
- I attended the meeting in KEVR and gave a water meter to the head of “Sofiiska voda“. I have prepared another water meter for the new head of KEVR, Mr. Mladenovski. In a nutshell, the situation is as follows. The new general terms and conditions of relations between the residents of Sofia and “Sofiiska voda“ were not subject to public discussion and thus 2 million people who are actually affected by these general terms and conditions were not able to express their opinion. At the end of April, we held a civil discussion and wrote a very detailed statement against the unfair clauses that “Sofiiska voda“ is offering. The KEVR has decided to issue mandatory instructions for their removal, but...
One of the proposals was the intention of “Sofiiska voda“ to oblige Sofia residents to automatically switch to electronic invoices.
It is true that this is the future, but both in Sofia and throughout the country, there are still thousands of people - mainly adults - who do not use the Internet well, do not have e-mails, etc. And as the texts were written, this meant that people who do not have e-mails would not have information about their bills. And this decision by “Sofiiska voda“ directly violates consumer rights. Thanks to our insistence, the KEVR intends to prevent this violation of consumer rights, as well as to repeal the text that allows for the non-posting of notices at the entrances when the water meter report will be made. What will happen in the final version, we will see.
- What else is changing in the general conditions...
- There is another outrage. "Sofiiska Voda" is trying to push a new fee on Sofia residents, which is pure bullshit. We have filed an objection against it and we will see what will happen. It is about the following. Citizens who live in condominiums - blocks of flats and cooperatives, will have to pay if they want a control report from "Sofiiska Voda", when the sum of the water consumed by the individual water meters is less than the readings of the common water meter. To put it even more simply. "Sofiiska Voda" is trying to burden people with an additional fee if you object and want additional information about the so-called total consumption - the difference between the sum of the individual water meters and the total. When there is a difference between the sum of the individual water meters and the total, most often it is about unfulfilled obligations of Sofia Water to actually report the water meters of the incorrect debtors - who have damaged water meters, steal water or simply hide. And then their bills are distributed among all regular payers. This is how “Sofia Water“ collects its money. But!? When “Sofia Water“ still catches such a violator, it fines him and collects his money again. And so it receives money from two places for already consumed water - once for “general consumption” from the regular payers, who are charged the difference with the general water meter, and a second time when it catches an irregular subscriber. This is how Sofia Water receives money from two places for the same water. And now, with the new changes, it wants to make citizens pay when they want information and an additional report about it.
- Will citizens be able to file objections to the equalization bills for heating by August 31? How many people have you managed to help?
- We helped everyone who turned to us. We established, and let people know, that heat accountants have increased their fees this year by 20%, and last year by 30%. And people pay them about 80 leva on an annual basis for a share distribution, which often seems unrealistic. Sometimes it seems that heat accountants simply adjust the amount of heat energy from a building installation to make their bill. And this is a serious violation of consumer rights, because people have the right to pay exactly for the heat energy they consume.