News

30 November 2023

Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva strongly objected to another increase in water prices by an average of 15% from 1 January next year. The increase will affect more than 30 settlements in the country. The opinion of the public defender was presented today by the institution's expert Tsvetanka Ilieva at a meeting of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission.

Prof. Kovacheva also gives concrete examples where the increase exceeds the specified 15%: in Berkovitsa water supply and sewerage services jump by 80%, in Sliven by over 40%, in Sapareva Banya by over 37%, in Vidin by over 28%, in Gabrovo by over 20 %, and in Dobrich by over 16%.

In her opinion, the Ombudsman emphasizes that the highest combined water price is proposed for Water Supply Operator in Razgrad at BGN 6.08/cubic meter, while for other water supply operators (Silistra, Varna, Shumen, Smolyan, Targovishte) the price rises to over BGN 5/cubic meter.

Diana Kovacheva points out that these prices are not final and households will still be forced to spend more and more money to pay their water bills, because added to this increase will be the inflation for November 2023.

“At the Ombudsman's institution in 2023, the number of complaints concerning the poor quality of drinking water services has increased significantly, concerning frequent and prolonged water supply interruptions, non-compliance with the announced periods of established water supply regimes, failure to remove accidents in time, poor water quality after prolonged interruption, low pressure, etc. Citizens rightly continue to ask the question – what are the benefits of the continuous increase in the prices of water supply services”, writes Prof. Kovacheva in her opinion.

She emphasizes that, as can be seen from the Annual Report of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission on the water supply sector for the past year, the increase in total losses in the water supply system is over 61 per cent.

Therefore, the public defender justifiably asks, with such proposed prices for water supply and sewerage services, how the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission protects the interests of consumers – a principle that should be observed by the Commission under Article 7 of the Regulation of Water Supply and Sewerage Services Act.

Will the increase in the price of water supply services in Sliven by more than BGN 1 compared to the current one of BGN 2.78/cubic meter result in improvement of the universal access to water for the population in the city and the nearby villages”, asks Diana Kovacheva.

She also raises another question - whether the increase in the combined price of water supply and sewerage services in Targovishte from BGN 5,13/cubic meter, will solve the problems with the water supply in the town of Omurtag, where people are subject to a drastic water regime and only get water twice a week for five hours.

According to the public defender, the proposed mechanism for setting and changing the prices of water supply services, developed by the Commission in 2015, effective from 2016, only achieves a significant increase in the prices of water supply services, which, however, does not contribute to their improved quality.

The Ombudsman is categorical that the problems in the water supply sector have not been consistently addressed and are getting worse each year, which makes it necessary to consider an analysis and change in the pricing of water supply services, including their affordability.

“The determined affordability of water supply prices for 17 regions has more than 10% stochastic error when calculating the annual income of one household member. These are the regions: Vratsa - 17.3%; Lovech - 12.6%; Montana - 10.4%; Veliko Tarnovo - 11.5%; Gabrovo - 11.4%; Razgrad - 17.2%; Ruse - 11.4%; Silistra - 11.4%; Dobrich - 17.9%; Targovishte - 15.9%; Shumen - 11.4%; Stara Zagora - 11.8%; Yambol - 17.4%; Kyustendil - 11.7%; Kardzhali - 12.9%; Pazardzhik - 12.1%; Smolyan - 18.4%. According to information from the National Statistical Institute, over 10% stochastic error means that the data is unreliable,” summarizes Prof. Kovacheva.

She indicates that in Yambol the affordability as of 1 January 2023 was BGN 5.53/cubic meter, with an error rate of 15.9%, and from 1 January 2024, the affordability will be BGN 4.964/cubic meter, with an error rate of 17.4%. This is a decrease in affordability by 10.31% compared to the previous year, and this is not the actual situation with the average monthly income of one household member in Yambol region.

Diana Kovacheva is categorical that in order to determine the affordability of the prices of water supply services, it is necessary to use only statistically reliable NSI data for the relevant years.