News

14 March 2023

The Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva objected to another water tariff increase – this time in the region of Shumen and the region of Pazardzhik with a tariff rise to 49.88% and 63.50% respectively. At two meetings in a row today at the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) headquarters, the Head of the Rights of Users of Administrative and Public Services Department of the Ombudsman’s institution, Nina Boyadzhieva, took a firm stance as she said that the water tariff increases in the two regions would make payments due uncollectible and, in addition, would have an extremely negative impact on citizens who find it increasingly difficult to pay their utility bills. Prof. Kovacheva’s view is that there exists no economic rationale for the tariff increases.

Mrs. Boyadzhieva put forward of number of reasons and recalled that as per a decision of 30 September 2022 of the Council of Ministers a total of BGN 2,779,180 was earmarked from the budget for financing the water supply infrastructure for three communities in the region of Shumen: the town of Varbitsa – BGN 1,633,259, the village of Todor Ikonomovo – BGN 721,929, and the village of Kamenyak – BGN 423,992.

She added that the said cabinet decision of 30 September 2022 allocated budget resources amounting to BGN 2,805,071 for financing the water supply infrastructure for two communities in the region of Pazardzhik: the village of Lesichovo – BGN 1,164,380 and the town of Belovo – BGN 1,640,691.

In connection with this, Mrs. Boyadzhieva asked whether the sums cited had been considered by the EWRC in the determination of the quality targets for the business plans’ periods of both water supply and sewerage service utilities.

Further, she emphasized that the 2021 Annual Financial Statement of the Shumen Utility reported that sums of money had been received to compensate for the electricity prices, the sum total being BGN 5,810,000 for the whole year, and asked whether these compensations had been taken into account when the average monthly tariffs were calculated for the base period April-September 2021.

At the same time, she called attention to the fact that neither the Pazardzhik Utility business plan nor the WERC Report inform about the amount of the electricity compensations that the utility received in 2021 and 2022.

“Were these compensations taken into account when the average monthly tariffs were calculated for the base period April-September 2021?” the envoy of the national Ombudsman asked.

Nina Boyadzhieva also pointed out that the business plans of the Shumen Utility and of the Pazardzhik Utility showed that no consultations with customers were intended when the plans were elaborated.

She emphasized that the Water Supply and Sewerage Service Association did not agree on the business plan of the Shumen Utility as at the meeting on 15 February 2023, seven out of ten municipalities attended and 52.22% of the delegates objected. They represented the municipalities Shumen, Novi Pazar, Veliki Preslav, Smyadovo, Nikola Kozlevo that make up almost 74% of the population of the region.

“However, the WERC upholds the opinion that the Association has approved the plan and raised no objections since the deadline for the submission of the opinion of the Association to the Utility was not met and thus applied Art. 27, para 5 of the Quality Control Regulation. This modus operandi became recurrent,” Mrs. Boyadzhieva said.

She emphasized that the Chairman of the Shumen Water Supply and Sewerage Association, the Regional Governor and an agent of the central government did not send the opinion to the Water Supply and Sewerage Service Utility. No sanctions are intended in the event of failure to fulfil this obligation and ultimately the result is what the central government agent asked for, viz. a business plan.

“The Ombudsman suggests that the WERC should analyze this problem and take the necessary measures by a proposal to immediately amend the legislation so that the opinions of the municipalities are taken into account”, Mrs. Boyadzhieva said.

She stressed that the Pazardzhik Utility has not an approved business plan for the period 2017-2021 which is why no adjustment had been made with the achievement of the efficiency targets of the initially set tariff for 2023 that went up by 63.50% over 2016, i.e. an increase of the tariff from BGN 1.644 per cubic meter to BGN 2.688 per cubic meter.

At the same time, she drew attention to the fact that the WERC had not received the opinion of the municipalities from the region of Pazardzhik and the region of Shumen regarding the business plans as per Art. 27, para 2 of the Ordinance on the Regulation of the Quality of the Water Supply and Sewerage Services.