8 February 2023
“The Ombudsman's institution received a petition from citizens of Sliven against the increase of water prices, which has so far been signed by over 1,100 persons.” This was announced by the Head of the Rights of Users of Administrative and Public Services Department of the Ombudsman's institution, Nina Boyadzhieva, who took part today in the meeting of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (KEVR) on the occasion of the public discussion of the prices in the business plan of the local water supply company for the period 2022-2026.
Boyadzheva pointed out some of the people's objections to the upcoming increase in the water price – there was no public discussion of the proposed price with a wide range of users; there was no consultation with the citizens regarding the water quality, as required by the Ordinance on the water quality regulation; there is a complete "blackout" in submitting the Sliven Water Supply plan to the Municipal Council, the Regional Governor and non-publication of the decisions, thus increasing citizens' mistrust of this business plan.
Nina Boyadzhieva added that pursuant to the Ordinance on regulation of the water supply services the disclosure of the proposed new prices has not been made in an appropriate manner. She emphasized that this is a matter of great public interest, but there are practically no publications in the local media to inform the citizens in the region.
“No comments are made on the results of the consultations with users”, added the Head of the Rights of Users of Administrative and Public Services Department, noting that clear guidance from the Commission was needed so that people's voices could be heard.
Boyadzhieva was categorical that the opinion of the Ombudsman is against the water price increase in the region because it does not correspond to the quality of the service provided and is not economically justified.
She pointed out that the KEVR applies so-called unified approach and the year 2020 serves as a basis.
“The unified approach, which is to be applied to approve the business plan and confirm the price of the water supply service for the first price period, in practice is being applied under completely different conditions. In the case of this water supply operator, the price for 2022 will be confirmed, while in practice it will not be applied, but it affects the implementation of investments”, emphasized the Ombudsman's expert.
Nina Boyadzhieva also noted the problem with the lag in time set out in the KEVR Guidelines for cases when business plans are approved one or more years after the sbeginning of the regulatory period. She pointed out that this is important in order to take account of the actual financial situation of the company, in accordance with the principle of economic justification of the prices of water supply services and in order to promote appropriate and effective planning of investments over time.
She drew attention to the fact that in regard to the collection of receivables of the water supply operator, this indicator is rated by KEVR as “full non-performance”.
“This problem was brought to the fore after the survey conducted by the water supply operator. As the price rises, uncollectibility will increase too.”
She also highlighted the staff efficiency indicator.
“According to law, the main indicator of quality is the number of staff compared to the number of users served. The Ordinance contains a single measure for the number of building water supply diversions, the number of building sewage diversions. For us, equality between served users and the number of diversions cannot be established, especially in territories where the population is decreasing”, said categorically Boyadzhieva.
She emphasized that in determining the quantities of water supply for the regulatory period NSI data on the population by region and gender is to be used - option I (realistic option) for the relevant region.
“We checked this data on the Sliven region on the NSI website and it turned out that for 2025 the number of users served is 182,389. In the Commission's report, 174,897 persons are indicated or a difference of 7,492 persons less than the official statistics. The population size has a direct impact on the determination of estimated water supply quantities. This indicator directly participates in the formation of the water price – in this case, in an upward direction,” Boyadzhieva pointed out.
She also added that for 2026, the Sliven water company plans and the working group has accepted total losses of 77.26%. In practice this means that for two regulatory periods or 10 years, the water supply operator has not achieved any efficiency in terms of reduction of total losses, marking a reduction of only 8%. At the same time, the price increase for 2026 is 97.89% (BGN 4.69 with VAT) compared to the currently applicable one and 129.80% compared to 2015. This means that there are no actual benefits from the price increase of the service for the citizens.
Nina Boyadzhieva clarified that this is also happening against the background of allocated grants under the "Environment 2014-2020" OP of over BGN 81 million and over BGN 2.5 million granted from the state budget by Council of Ministers’ Decree No. 711 of 2022.
She drew attention to the high percentage of total losses (one of the highest in the country), and noted that the number of repairs for the new regulatory period decreases by 37%.