October 19 (BTA) - Employers and trade unions joined in a
 Tuesday protest against the high electricity prices in front of
 the Council of Ministers' building. The reason, they said, is
the lack of adequate and timely measures on the part of the
government.
    
On Monday, the leaderships of  the Bulgarian Industrial Capital
Association (BICA), the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (BCCI), the  Union for Private Economic Enterprise
(UPEE), the Confederation of Bulgarian Tourist Business,  as
well as those of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions
in Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Podkrepa Labour Confederation
demanded immediate compensation at the disposal of the State to
the amount of 75 per cent of the difference between the forecast
 energy regulator price and the actual price of electricity for
non-household consumers on the free market. The protest was also
 supported by the Bulgarian Hotelier and Restaurateur
Association (BHRA).

The regulator's forecast price is 119 leva/MWh and the price for
 non-household consumers on the free market in the past week has
 averaged at 400 leva/MWh, employers and trade unions said. Each
 such consumer should get support for the period from August
2021 until the month when the price goes back to normal, whereby
 the energy price for industry will approach that on the
regulated market. In just a few months, some 2.5-3 billion leva
will be sucked out of the economic and social system if
immediate and adequate measures are not taken, BICA Board
Chairman Vasil Velev warned. Otherwise the result will be a
collapse: stopped enterprises, bankrupt traders, and the risk of
 impossible electricity supply, he added.
 
CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov said the compensations should be
 sufficient enough as a resource for a past period.    

On Monday, the organizers of the protest said they had sent an
official request for measures for limiting the damages from the
energy price hikes for the Bulgarian economy and a meeting with
caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev. At a roundtable on the
subject organized by President Rumen Radev, Yanev said a
decision on such measures would be taken by the government on
Wednesday.

/DT/BR


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