Bulgarian state railways are calculating the increase in ticket prices. The company’s manager Lyuben Nanov announced this in the program “This morning” on the BTV channel. The reason: a double increase in the cost of electricity.
“We use 150,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year, because out of all 565 trains, 470 run on electricity,” Nanov said.
He stressed that for a long period of time electricity cost about $ 60-65 per metawatt-hour, and today its price is already $ 130-150, ie the relative share of electricity in total BDZ costs is 21%.
At the moment there will be no increase, but fares will be increased. BDZ has the right to raise prices twice a year, and there is no other way out at the moment.
The cost of electricity is becoming an increasingly serious problem in the European Union. On Wednesday, EU ministers met for an emergency meeting in Slovenia precisely because of high prices for electricity and natural gas across Europe. Many European countries are already considering emergency measures to protect their consumers, aimed at stopping the huge winter rise in prices. The main envisaged measures are state subsidies and price restrictions.