Urgent tasks that the thematic working group within the Electricity sector needs to examine were one of the central topics of discussion at the second meeting of the Energy Board, which ended late last night. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and Investment Planning Ekaterina Zaharieva.
Serious technical, financial and social imbalances have accumulated within the sector and a huge deficit poses a threat to the system. Therefore, the working group will need to carry out a risk analysis and outline the main issues that should be resolved. The analysis should include a probability assessment of various scenarios, based on which an action plan will be developed.
The work of the Energy Board will be assisted by thematic working groups in sectors Electricity and Gas and Petroleum-based Fuels, it emerged from the meeting. The groups are expected to collect and analyze information to identify problems and make justifiable proposals for their discussion by the Energy Board, including on the need for changes to the legislation or strategic documents.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank and the European Commission are ready to provide expert assistance to Bulgaria in reforming the Energy Sector, it emerged from the Board’s meeting, at which the specific parameters of this cooperation were presented.
EBRD will carry out a financial analysis of the Sector at the system level, which needs to identify the most serious deficits, what causes them and how they can be overcome. According to Energy Board members, expanding the capacity of the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Energy is one of the leading conditions for overcoming the crisis in the sector. The European Commission is also expected to engage in the training of Bulgarian specialists in this direction.
Bulgaria will cooperate with the World Bank on the actual liberalization of the Energy sector, as well as on assessing the reasonableness of current prices and the need to support certain groups of consumers.
The two financial institutions will build on the existing analysis of the state of the Energy sector, developed during the previous caretaker government’s term in office.