OCCRP PROJECT (THE POWER BROKERS) - Bulgaria


PROJECT - The Power Brokers

A Revolt Against Rising Prices

Bulgarian state power company cracks down on debtors

Ivan Shutov warns the driver to slow down on the pockmarked road. His team is making its way around potholes, toward the tumble-down shacks of the Stolipinovo section of Plovdiv in Bulgaria. They have a tricky assignment in this poor little neighborhood.

Stolipinovo houses Bulgaria’s largest Roma community and Shutov, from the state electrical company NEK, is here with a police escort to try to collect payments on electricity bills.

Bulgaria Losing Power

The closure of Bulgaria’s nuclear reactors will shrink its power supply and shift the whole region’s energy situation. 

The price of electricity in Bulgaria has started to climb and could double over the next few years as NEK, the Bulgarian national power company, closes two reactors at its nuclear plant in Kozlodui and recently privatized companies lobby regulatory agencies for large price increases.

While officials at the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) limited expected increases in October to 1.8 percent, the pressure is building to raise prices and friction is developing between consumers on one side who say they can't afford large increases and large energy corporations who say energy users must pay double digit price increases to rebuild the aging infrastructure.

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