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• |Bulgaria
• |Energy Demand

Primary Energy Demand of Bulgaria is approximately 876 PJ.
The consumption of energy per capita is 2,8 toe (117,18 GJ). Primary consumption experienced a significant fall between 1990 and 1992 (affecting mainly oil consumption) and between 1996 to 1999 (affecting mainly gas consumption). At the moment Coal and Lignite are representing the most important energy resource (making up about 35 % of primary energy demand). [Enerdata]

Demand per sector

Industry remains the largest consumer, followed by the residential-tertiary sector and transport.

The deviation of electricity demand per GDP of a country from that of Austria or the EU average, indicates how efficiently electricity is utilised in the respective economy in comparison to the EU or to Austria. Or, to put it the other way round, which gains in efficiency are still to be realised. If the electricity demand per GDP decreases (what can be expected in CEE countries) more national income in the form of GDP will be produced with the same amount of electricity (the black bars in the figure will decrease in this case).

Prospects for Energy Saving

Bulgaria is a very energy intensive country, in fact its energy intensity is the highest among the Eastern European Countries. Therefore it has a large potential for energy saving. The Energy Act and the Energy Efficiency Act are promoting the sustainable use of energy and of course energy efficiency measures.

The authority in charge of energy saving and energy efficiency matters is (besides the Ministry of Economy and Energy), the Energy Efficiency Agency - EEA.

A national energy saving programme (NESP) was set up aiming at a reduction of energy intensitiy by 30 % in the period of 2005 to 2015.

In addition a 3 years action plan for energy saving was launched for the years 2005 - 2007. The amount of saved electricty per year was approximately 125,705 MWh (appr. 453 GJ). The annual economic benefit was about 38,670 mio. Leva. [Enerdata, EEA, MEE]

Prices

Household electricity prices have risen 13.6% over the last three years (as of 2007) and are about 49% below the European averages. Similarly, industrial user prices have risen by 12.5% over the last three years and remain about 39% lower than the European averages. Prices for industrial users are lower in absolute terms than for households.