News

23 March 2026

The Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria, Velislava Delcheva, held an on-site reception day in Lovech, where she met with residents of the municipality and the region.

The most common complaints concerned poor electricity supply and high electricity bills, a problem that continues to seriously affect households.

Since the beginning of the year, over 60 residents of Lovech and the region have sought assistance from the Ombudsman’ Institution. In addition to complaints about electricity supply and bills, citizens also raised a number of cases involving malicious and aggressive practices by debt collection agencies toward their debtors. Issues were also raised regarding violations of social rights and difficulties in accessing healthcare services.

The Ombudsman stated that the institution would investigate all complaints received and would insist that the competent authorities take effective measures.

A particularly alarming incident occurred at the reception area, where a woman in a wheelchair was forced to wait for the Ombudsman in the rain outside the building to file her complaint due to the lack of accessibility.

In this regard, the Ombudsman will issue a recommendation to the Municipality of Lovech to take urgent action to ensure an accessible environment for people with disabilities, so that every citizen has equal access to public institutions.

In the period from 1 January 2026 to 22 March 2026 alone, the Ombudsman Institution received 4,535 complaints, compared to 1,619 for the same period in 2025, representing nearly a threefold increase. The total number of complaints in 2025 was 10,256, with the majority of them related to consumer rights.

Earlier in the day, Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva also conducted a surprise inspection at a residential facility for people with physical disabilities in the village of Slivak.