/ world today news/ I am absolutely “in favor” of people having clarity and having more control over the work of monopolies and state bodies, says Petar Dokdalal to BTA
I understand the economic situation in the country and how difficult it is to pay the bills, but the electricity distribution companies are only one link in the chain – out of a BGN 100 electricity bill, only BGN 9.28 comes to us, says Petar Dokdalal, regional manager of CEZ for Bulgaria.
I want to appreciate the correctness of our customers – Bulgarians are responsible people, says Dokdalal, who before assuming his current post was the ambassador of the Czech Republic in our country.
“I categorically state that we comply with the laws of Bulgaria. We will comply with the recommendations of the State Environmental Protection Agency.
We will do our best to convince the regulator that it is worthwhile not to revoke our license and to continue our activities in Bulgaria,” he explains, when asked if he has any concerns about CEZ’s license in Bulgaria.
– Do you think the situation in the country will calm down with the reduction in electricity prices from March 5?
– The price is formed on the basis of certain rules from the State Environmental Protection Agency. The reduction was achieved almost entirely at the expense of the electricity distribution companies – with the reduced technological costs of the companies – from 15 to 12%, other parameters were not changed.
In this situation it is difficult to comment, we have to comply with the decision of the regulator.
The first thing we did was to make an extraordinary report on the electricity meters.
– How does this process go?
– Are we the opportunity for customers to self-report the electricity meters, after which they should inform us of the data from the devices, as well as we have provided an additional number of accountants. We have doubled the company’s call center staff to take device reports.
– How much are the technological costs of CEZ?
– 12.77%, i.e. the 12% technological costs recognized by the State Environmental Protection Agency are lower than our real costs. The point of such a regulatory step is to incentivize us to reduce costs, but this can be done with investment.
If the amount of income and profit is reduced, this cannot but affect the amount of investments.
– How will this reduction in technology costs affect you?
– According to preliminary estimates, this will mean more than BGN 3 million less funds per month for the company, but we consider that these prices are temporary until July 1st and we are analyzing how to continue after July 1st with our investment program.
In order to modernize the network so that we can reach European standards and quality of supply, today’s investments must be at least 50% increased.
– Are you fulfilling the demand of the protesters that the power supply should not be cut off for unpaid bills?
– At the moment we are not interrupting the power supply to customers who have submitted an application for deferred payment or a verification alert. We want to help reduce social tension. We check each complaint individually.
So far, 9,000 complaints out of 10,000 received have been checked, and in one percent of them (about 90 cases) errors in energy metering have been found.
I apologize on behalf of the company to these customers of ours and assure them that a correction will be made. If refunds are required, they will be returned to customers.
– Do you notice a change in customer behavior, is collection lower?
– There are indeed symptoms of declining payments. I want to appreciate the correctness of our customers – Bulgarians are responsible people. We need some time and calmness to solve and discuss with them every single problem.
I understand the economic situation in the country and how difficult it is to pay the bills, but the electricity distribution companies are only one link in the chain – out of a BGN 100 electricity bill, only BGN 9.28 comes to us.
A total of BGN 74.14 goes to the energy producers, NEK and ESO, and the remaining BGN 16.68 goes to the NRA.
That was until March 5th. After the decision of the CEVR to reduce the price, the rate of CEZ decreased further.
I am absolutely “for” people to have clarity and to have more control over the work of monopolies and state bodies.
On behalf of our company, I will do everything possible from now on to reduce this social tension, to be as open as possible to customers.
– When will you start issuing new invoices for electricity, as requested by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission – with written kilowatt-hours of day and night energy?
– The type of invoices is in accordance with the legislation and the requirements of the liberalized market. They provide information to the client about exactly what they are paying for and how much.
The invoice in this form was approved by the SEWRC in 2010 and coordinated with the consumer organizations. However, we will comply with the directives of the SEWRC when we receive them.
– What percentage of the bills for December were rescheduled, what percentage – not paid at all?
– We offer our customers deferred payment and about 2,500 customers have signed deferred payment contracts.
– NEK stated that a reduction of the cold reserve is being considered as a measure to further reduce the price of electricity. How will this affect Varna TPP?
– The Varna thermal power station is an extremely important plant from the point of view of the security of the energy system of Bulgaria. It offers system services and in particular “cold reserve”, and at the lowest prices. It is hard to imagine that the availability will decrease from this plant.
Currently, a tender is being prepared for the modernization of three blocks of the Varna thermal power plant. This modernization must be carried out so that we can offer the lowest price of cold reserve in the future.
– Are you worried that the license of CEZ companies in Bulgaria could be revoked?
– I am absolutely sure that we followed the laws of Bulgaria. We have had many inspections and have no worries about being inspected again.
– One of the most serious accusations against you is that services were awarded to subsidiaries of the CEZ companies, without having been assigned a procedure under ZOP?
– Yes, this is the most difficult question and I would like to explain it. This is a business model we have with almost all of our overseas companies and many other international companies have similar models.
This model is in accordance with the European directive from 2004 and with today’s ZOP in Bulgaria. This is what all our inspections have shown.
The principle is – there is an established company that offers materials and services to CEZ companies, and it is more economical for this company to do so than for each CEZ company to have its own unit for logistics, HR, material supply and other services.
Of ten largest suppliers of our company, nine are Bulgarian, only one supplier is from Slovakia. There are claims that 35 million BGN of our expenses are made under consulting contracts, but this is not the case, the figures are taken out of context and create negative attitudes.
Things are clear, transparent and legal.
– Remind us what was the profit of “CHEZ Distribution Bulgaria” for 2012?
– The profit of “CHEZ Razpradelenie Bulgaria” is BGN 47 million. It was achieved by increasing the efficiency of the company.
– Are you ready if the recommendation of the State Environmental Protection Agency is to change this model and award public contracts to comply with this?
– We respect the decisions of the SEWRC and will work in accordance with the best business practices established in the EU. We are ready to show and have proven that we work in accordance with Bulgarian legislation.
We will do our best to convince the State Environmental Protection Agency of this.
We have already taken measures to remedy the violations found by the State Environmental Protection Agency – for example, for failure to submit protocols for the replacement of electricity meters.
At the moment, if I am worried about anything, it is that our employees at CEZ are working under enormous stress. It is said that we are some middlemen who buy electricity and sell afterwards with some additives.
This is absolutely not the case, we are a distribution company, we maintain the medium and low voltage network.
The network is maintained with people, people are also needed in troubleshooting, and now in this situation we have also extended the working hours of our employees.
That is why I am worried that this situation cannot last long and it is in the interest of both society and customers that things calm down. If there are problems, they should be solved in dialogue.
– Why did the electricity distribution companies allow such a long accounting period in December, this ultimately led to people’s dissatisfaction with high electricity bills?
– From a communication point of view, I consider this as our mistake. While other companies also had a long reporting period, and this has been the case in the past, with electricity rising by 13.6% since July 1, this longer reporting period has now also had a psychological effect on customers.
We warned them with the invoice, and an explanatory campaign had to be done, offering them deferred payment. Many additional factors also accumulated – low temperatures, more days off.
And a large percentage of the Bulgarian population is heated with electricity. That is why we plan to focus on energy efficiency and very soon we will offer our customers a solution for implementing such measures.
It could be a fund that supports consumers with energy efficiency measures.
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