Sofia, December 15 (BTA) - The National Assembly imposed on Wednesday a moratorium on the price of electricity, water and sewerage services and heating at the levels of January 1, 2021. The proposal was made in the plenary hall by GERB-UDF Floor Leader Desislava Atanasova during the debate on the establishment of an ad-hoc committee on energy issues, to find a way out of the current crisis.

The motion was passed by 186 votes to 2, with two abstentions.

Atanasova asked that the draft decision for the ad-hoc committee only provide that Parliament is imposing a moratorium. The Deputy Parliament Chair Iva Miteva (TISP) proposed that the moratorium be voted separately and drafted as a separate decision from the one for the establishment of the ad-hoc committee.

According to Ramadan Atalay (MRF), the decision for a moratorium is illegal, because every decision of the National Assembly is taken after it is presented in writing to the MPs.

TISP will support the proposal for a moratorium, said Floor Leader Toshko Yordanov.

Parliament then voted to set up the ad-hoc committee on energy issues. The proposal was made by Andrey Gyurov and a group of MPs from the CC parliamentary group. It was passed on 163 votes to 49, with seven abstentions.

The committee's composition is based on parity, with 14 MPs, two from each parliamentary group. Radoslav Ribarski MP of CC was elected chairman of the committee. It is scheduled to work for a period of one month.

Its main task will be to make proposals for dealing with the crisis in the energy sector. The committee is being established because the topic has been important to the public in the last few months, and as the energy regulator's request for a new increase in the price of electricity will reflect on the socio-economic condition of the people, and it must therefore be considered by the National Assembly.

Later the ad-hoc committee decided that the moratorium will be in place from December 16until March 31 2022 in a 8-2 vote with two abstentions on a proposal by socialist MP Rumen Gechev.

The committee members from the MRF walked out of the meeting prior to voting.

Ramadan Atalay said that the moratorium was voted in violation of the parliamentary rules of organization. He said that this decision has brought the energy sector down into collapse and that it will harm electricity transmission operators and it is not in the interest of Bulgarian citizens.

Lena Borislavova, chef de cabinet to Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, said that at issue are two
scenarios to control the increase in the price of electricity, water and heating: either to restrict temporarily the powers of the energy regulator to adjust the prices from January 1 2022 or table amendments to the Energy Act to introduce better controls and keep the regulator's autonomy.

***
Later in the day, the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) deferred an open meeting scheduled for Wednesday that was meant to discuss a report and a draft decision to change prices in the electricity sector.

At the beginning of the sitting, EWRC member Remzi Osman proposed that it be postponed due to the decision taken earlier in the day by the National Assembly to impose a moratorium on the price of electricity, water and sewerage services and heating energy.

The postponed open meeting was to discuss the report by the working group of experts with EWRC, which proposes to increase the price of electricity for household consumers by an average of 11.51 per cent from January 1, 2022. RY,VE/MT/PP