Participants in the electricity market in Bulgaria include:

  • Producer
  • Public supplier of electricity (NEC)
  • Trader of electricity
  • Coordinator of a balancing group
  • Supplier of last resort (SLR) – ensures the delivery to end customers who are connected to the distribution network of medium voltage when not supplied by other suppliers
  • Final electricity supplier – provides electricity supply to household and non-household end customers connected to the distribution network of low voltage level when not supplied by other suppliers
  • Electric transport system operator – Electricity System Operator (ESO)
  • Electric grid operator - Electricity distribution companies (EDC)
  • End client

Electricity market devides into a free (liberalized) market and a regulated market.

Electricity market - Participants

In a state regulated electricity market, end users can purchase power from only one licensed provider at prices set by EWRC . Prices in this market are significantly higher than those on the free market and are determined by the Energy and Water Regulation Commission (EWRC ).

All household and non-household customers, connected to the low voltage receive electric power on this market.

All business customers (companies) with connected power over 100 kWh should join and benefit from the low prices on the open market. In case you have not done so, you are being supplied by the so-called. providers of last resort (PLR) at a price significantly higher than that on the free market.The role of DPI is played by the electricity distribution companies (EDC).

Regulated electricity market

The liberalization of the electricity market allows the customers to select one or more suppliers of electricity and freely negotiate the price and terms of delivery.

The price of electricity on the open market is determined on a market basis, depending on the

  • demand
  • supply
  • consumption on a day basis
Free electricity market

In our monthly bill for electricity are included:

  • the price of consumed active electric energy (higher than that on the free market and defined by EWRC ) – paid to the provider end supplier or the provider of last resort
  • balancing of the energy supply system – paid to the provider end supplier (the price is determined by EWRC )
  • balancing of the energy distribution system – paid to one of the four EDCs in the country depending on the location of the facility (the price is determined by EWRC )
  • duty if the client is not an individual – paid to the State via the EDCs (the price is determined by the state through the Ministry of Finance and National Revenue Agency)
  • transmission over the distribution network paid to the relevant EDC (the price is determined by EWRC )
  • access to the distribution network – paid to the relevant EDC (the price is determined by EWRC and is due on the provided power to the facility, not its actual consumption)
  • transmission and access to/ through the grid – paid to ESO via the corresponding EDC (the price is determined by EWRC )
  • surcharge on the provided amount of reactive power according to the Ordinance for regulating the prices of electricity (ORPE) – paid to the appropriate EDC and determined in accordance with Article 7 ; ORPE
  • VAT – paid to the State via the respective EDC.

The monthly invoice issued by the dealer (supplier in the liberalized market) of electricity includes:

  • the price of consumed active power (much lower than on the regulated market and is determined on a market basis depending on the demand, supply and consumption)
  • fee “Obligations to society” (replacing the former taxes “green energy”, “brown energy” and “stranded costs”) – paid to the Public supplier of electricity (NEC) via the respective supplier (trader) in the liberalized electricity market (determined by EWRC)
  • duty if the client is not an individual – paid to the State via the relevant supplier (trader) in the liberalized electricity market (the price is determined by the state through the Ministry of Finance and National Revenue Agency)
  • VAT – paid to the State via the relevant supplier (trader) in the liberalized electricity market.

Transfer services and access to electrical grid remain outside the free market. Every client who has joined the liberalized market continues to pay them to the electricity distribution companies (EDC) at regulated prices. It is expected that within a year the move to a unified invoice issued by the electricity supplier (dealer) will be complete – which will transform the due amounts for transfer, access and distribution to the appropriate EDC, but it depends on the willingness of EDC companies to provide the relevant contracts for the fulfillment of these obligations by the other participants in the liberalized electricity market (traders and customers on the free market).

Traders of electricity operate on the open market. Each one is a legal person licensed for this activity, who qualifies for financial guarantees in respect to their transactions. successful-trader2Traders purchase electricity from producers or other possible suppliers of electricity (stock exchanges, foreign suppliers) and sell it to consumers or to other traders.
Ritam-4-TB Ltd. is a licensed retailer of electricity.
Electricity trader
This is a provider of electricity to the liberalized electricity market, registered at ESO , which administers the balancing group, trades in balancing energy and redistributes it among the participants in the group. Thus the company balances consumption within the group and optimizes the costs of balancing it.
Ritam-4-TB Ltd. is a licensed coordinator of a balance balancing group.
Coordinator of a balance balancing group

All customers on the open market participate as a collective client, part of the group of the supplier who makes predictions. Participation in a common group for predicting consumption ensures customers lower costs for balancing as deviations of individual group members are compensating each other.

Balancing costs are always there, but in a regulated market these are calculated in the price of energy. Now, in a liberalized market and with the existence of more merchants and balancing groups, each participant bears the costs according to their forecasts. Therefore, the prices for balancing the various vendors are different.

The balancing service is at the expense of “Ritam-4-TB” Ltd.
The balancing energy market is organized electricity trading to maintain the balance between production and consumption in the power system. The aim of balancing is that there will be minimal differences (imbalance) between energy production and consumption, which leads to costs for balancing the entire system. It is not possible for consumption to be predicted with absolute accuracy. For this reason, daily hourly forecasts for consumption are made. These are then fed to the State Electricity System Operator, which manages the electricity system of Bulgaria.
balancing energy market
That’s the difference (positive or negative) between the predicted consumption / production and the one reported by the commercial measuring devices (electric meters).

The submission of forecasts (time schedules) on the open market is done both by the clients themselves, if they wish so, and by the coordinators of the balancing groups in which they participate, in order to reduce (share) this expenditure.

From 1 st June 2014, this is now a responsibility for the suppliers on the regulated market as well.

In order to participate on the liberalized market the facility/ies of the end users need to be registered in the ESO. See the three steps required to register on the free market -> ТУК.

Owned by the country – managed by the Electricity System Operator (ESO) and used for transmission of electricity from producers to substations in different regions of the country.
Electricity (ESO) grid
Ownedby the electricity distribution companies (EDCs) – Energo-Pro Sales AD, CEZ Electro AD EVN Bulgaria EAD Electricity and ECA-Golden Sands LTD. Serves the distribution of electricity from substations to end customers (businesses and households).
Eectricity grid

The operator of the grid / ERP / ensures continuity of supply and the quality of electricity supplied to all customers within the area specified in their license.

All questions and reports about the quality of the electrical power supply should be addressed to the relevant power company to whose network the customers’ facilities are connected .

  • Reactive power – it is that part of the total energy other than the active energy, necessary for the functioning of consumers, including design elements such as transformers, inductors, motors or condensers, called reactive elements. Reactive energy creates the typical for this type of equipment variable magnetic or electric fields.
  • Impact on the energy system – the transfer of reactive power causes an increase in the losses of active energy and reducing throughput of the distribution networks. This in turn affects the stability of the energy system and the quality of supplied electricity.
  • The power factor (cos φ) – who figured it out and what does it mean? The power factor is a value for evaluating the ratio between active power and apparent power in electrical networks for acute current (AC). Its value ranges between 0 and 1.
    When a consumer only contains active elements such as incandescent lamps, heaters, ovens, cookers etc., the full power is equal to the active power and the power factor in the network is equal to 1.
    In case of consumers with reactive elements, part of the full power provides reactive power required for their work and the ratio between active power and apparent power becomes less than 1.
    For the energy system, power grids with power factor above 0 9 are considered highly effective.

According to the Ordinance regulating electricity prices. -> View HERE

Achieving an acceptable balance between the values ​of the ​conveyed reactive power and active power consumption offers an opportunity to reduce or eliminate the due surcharge,s provided for in the regulations. The prospects are related to the implementation of effective technical solutions for ensuring and maintaining the power factor of the electrical equipment around and above 0.9.

To all our customers, whose connected power is => 100 kW, we recommend the establishment of compensating systems producing the required reactive power in the place of consumption, and, if they have already built such, to check their condition. Available on the market in the Republic of Bulgaria are comprehensive services for monitoring consumption, design, installation and servicing of such compensating devices.

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Free Electricity Market
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