Protests by Bulgarians over their high electricity bills have spread over the past week, resulting in 10s of thousands gathering in more than 20 cities on Sunday, February 17 and increasing pressure on a government that is already seeing its support ebb government, newswires reported.

Electricity prices are politically sensitive in the European Union's poorest member since power bills bite off a big chunk of monthly incomes, especially during the winter. The government has said it will look into the issue of rising electricity bills, but has ruled out the re-nationalisation of power firms. Bulgaria's power distribution market is divided into three regions, controlled by Czech firms CEZ and Energo-Pro and Austria's EVN.

Responding to Sunday's protests, Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev told Reuters: "In the coming days, we will take a final decision on whether there are grounds for revoking the licenses of the power distributors."

Many protesters said they had been overcharged in their December bills and an avalanche of complaints has been lodged with the power distributors. "We fully understand the anger of the people," CEZ Bulgaria's vice-chairman Petr Baran told local media. "If needed, we will pay compensations to our clients."

Bulgaria has long been criticised for failing to liberalise its highly monopolised electricity and gas distribution markets in line with the EU rules. In January, the European Commission referred the Balkan state, Estonia and Britain to the European Court of Justice - the highest EU court - after the three countries had only partially transposed EU energy market directives

Source: bne