Bulgaria’s energy regulator KEVR has taken another step toward reforming the electricity market by launching a public discussion on proposed changes to the country’s electricity trading framework.
The discussion brought together a broad range of stakeholders, including representatives from the country’s three electricity distribution companies, Sofia Municipality, and the Bulgarian Association of Electrical Engineering and Electronics. Their participation reflects the wide-reaching impact that the proposed changes are expected to have across the sector.
According to KEVR, the amendments aim to align secondary legislation with recent revisions to the Energy Act and support Bulgaria’s commitments under its National Recovery and Resilience Plan. A key component is a new methodology for calculating electricity that is generated, consumed internally, and sold.
KEVR officials explained that the revised framework is designed to open the market to citizen-led and renewable energy communities, while also encouraging the expansion of self-consumption generation. By promoting production closer to consumption, the regulator expects lower network losses, more stable energy bills, and reduced network-related charges over time.
The draft also includes detailed provisions for the entry of new market participants, the organization and activities of trading groups, contractual arrangements, registration and deregistration procedures, and data exchange between network operators, suppliers, and members of energy communities.
Distribution companies raised practical concerns, requesting a clearly designated administrative authority to manage registrations and sufficient time to implement the new calculation methodology. KEVR chair Plamen Mladenovski stated that registration should ideally fall under the Sustainable Energy Development Agency, a change requiring amendments to primary legislation. Due to tight deadlines linked to the Recovery and Resilience Plan and an ongoing EU infringement procedure for delayed transposition of a directive, registration responsibilities have temporarily been assigned to distribution companies.
The regulator plans to adopt the final version of the amended trading rules on 29 January, after which they will be forwarded for official publication.
This policy direction is also supported at the government level. In 2025, Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov announced plans to establish the country’s largest energy community, involving the transmission system operator ESO and the Bulgarian Development Bank, aiming to ease financing constraints and improve energy balancing across the system.