Bulgaria’s National Electric Company (NEK) spends the most on renewable energy and the least on electricity produced by the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), according to Petar Iliev, Executive Director of NEK.

Iliev appeared Wednesday at a hearing before the ad hoc parliamentary committee on establishing the current situation in the energy sector.

Iliev made clear that 3% of NEK’s expenses went to the cheapest electricity generated by the Kozloduy NPP, while renewable energy plants accounted for a share of 26% of the company’s spending.

He pointed out that the deficit at NEK increased further due to the obligation of the company to buy all the electricity produced by certain power plants, regardless of the fact that in some cases the output exceeded the quotas set by the energy watchdog.

Iliev, as cited by the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), condemned the quotas as unrealistic, stressing that in some cases overproduction amounted to 74% and the surplus had to be bought at preferential tariffs.

He noted that the situation in the energy sector was expected to improve as a result of Energy Act amendments adopted by Parliament recently under which NEK was to buy electricity from factory power plants and thermal power plants only if the output was high-efficiency electricity and did not exceed the quotas set by the energy watchdog.

Iliev argued that a potential new increase in electricity prices in July would be immoral.

He specified that the price of electricity on the free market was BGN 70/MWh, while household consumers, who were supposed to be protected consumers, paid BGN 125/MWh on the regulated market.

Iliev said that he could not provide an explanation for the anomaly.

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