/ world today news/ Almost 45% of Bulgarians do not have the means to adequately heat themselves. The data was presented by Liyana Adzharova from the Association of Energy Agencies. 30 percent of the people in our country are defined as energy poor, that is, they cannot cover their electricity, heating or solid fuel bills. According to this indicator, our country ranks first in the European Union. The community average is 9 percent.
Every third Bulgarian is in arrears in paying their heating bills, and 12.9% live in homes with leaks and damp walls.
Krasen Stanchev from the Institute for Market Economy counters that in our country there is no precise formulation of energy poverty and since the middle of 2013, “reasonable talk about the problem has disappeared”. His words were supported by Ivan Hinovski from the Bulgarian Energy and Mining Forum, who pointed out that over 1.5 million Bulgarians live below the poverty line, but only 254 thousand receive energy aid.
According to research by the Institute for Market Economy, a large proportion of consumers have one late payment on their bill. 7% were up to 6 days late, and 4.5% delayed payment between two and five times a year. At 3-4%, the power was cut off once, and at 2%, there was a power cut two or more times.
The reasons for the emergence of energy poverty are the outdated building stock and delayed gasification, Hinovski also stated. And he proposed to create a national “Energy Assistance” fund, as well as to introduce criteria for registering and categorizing energy-vulnerable households.
The socially weak should be stimulated with cash benefits against investments in energy savings or ecological heating.
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