New
Energy in Electricity Talks
TURKEY
is willing to start importing Bulgarian electricity
again, it emerged recently.
Under
an agreement signed in 1998 between the Bulgarian and
the Turkish governments, Bulgaria has been exporting
electricity to Turkey.
For
its part, Bulgaria has taken on the obligation to allow
Turkish companies to participate in infrastructure projects
between the two countries, such as the Maritsa highway
and the Upper Arda hydropower project.
In
April 2003, however, Turkey ceased to import Bulgarian
electricity with the explanation that Bulgaria did not
recruit Turkish companies in the carrying out of these
construction projects.
In
a series of negotiations in June, the two sides agreed
to resume discussions on the matter within three months.
In
a letter to his Bulgarian counterpart Milko Kovachev,
Turkish minister of energy Hilmi Guler said that Turkey
was willing to start negotiations on importing Bulgarian
electricity.
According
to Kovachev, Guler and the Turkish energy company Teas
had expressed their willingness to renounce the agreement
on the participation of Turkish companies in infrastructure
projects.
Kovachev
said that the letter raised two options, that such projects
could go ahead with or without Turkish investment.
According
to the Ministry of Energy, in spite the fact that the
energy system was working at full capacity and that
Bulgaria was exporting large amounts of electricity
to several neighbouring countries, it was still possible
that exports to Turkey also could go ahead.
Kovachev
said that he had prepared a letter to Guler inviting
him to Sofia for resume negotiations.
The
most recent talks on the matter were held in Ankara
in early June. At the time, Kovachev and the Minister
of Regional Development and Public Works Valentin Tserovski
could not reach an agreement with the Turkish side.
Meanwhile
it emerged that the prices of electricity for domestic
needs might rise by less than the expected 10 per cent.
According
to the chairperson of the State Commission for Energy
Regulation (SCER) Konstantin Shushulov, the new Energy
Bill provides for new regulations for calculating electricity
prices, which will be done by the end of October. These
regulations should be approved by the Government at
its meeting on December 18, according to Shushulov.
He
said that the SCER would propose changes to the formula
for calculating electricity prices.
According
to Shushulov, currently the prices are drawn up on the
basis of the expenses and the profits of the producers
of energy, while the new principle would be based on
the upper threshold of incomes.
Sofio
Echo.com
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