Overview
Funding:
European Commission, DG REFORM
Timeframe:
30/11/2023-29/06/2025
Budget:
Contractors:
Trinomics, The Netherlands: BSERC, Bulgaria – Subcontractor
Description
The objective of this project was to assist the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) of the Republic of Bulgaria to adopt new decisions and ordinances based on transparent, fair and simple tariffs for the gas sector. In addition, the project aimed to contribute to long term impacts such as better alignment of the national gas market to the EU legal framework and affordable and fair energy prices for businesses and citizens in Bulgaria.
Outcomes
The study provided EWRC (the beneficiary) and Bulgartransgaz EAD (the TSO/Storage operator) with a set of methodologies, rules, guidelines and models for the natural gas sector. These were designed to bridge the existing knowledge gap regarding the methodology for the reference price of the gas transmission operator, the tariff for access to and storage in underground gas storage facilities, the evaluation methodology for investments in the gas distribution network as well as of the regulatory framework for trade secrets and sensitive information.
The specific outcomes of this service included:
- A technical note on a simplified tariff model and a methodology for determining the reference price of the gas transmission operator in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/460;
- A technical note on rules for determining the categories of information representing trade secrets, as well as its usage, storage and publishing;
- A technical note on guidelines for approving tariffs for access to and storage in an underground gas storage facility;
- Technical note on a proposal for an evaluation model for gas distribution network operators’ investments and expenses.