Plumbing “Meden Kladenets” in the city of Kubrat was left without electricity today

The municipality postponed the guarantee of the debt and the signing of an agreement for its rescheduling proposed by ENERGO-PRO

ENERGO-PRO suspended the power supply to the administrative building of Plumbing “Meden Kladenets” in the town of Kubrat due to an unpaid debt of over BGN 3 million. By decision of the Municipal Council of the City of Kubrat, the proposal of ENERGO-PRO was not considered on December 7, and the decision taken does not help to reach an agreement. So far, no agreement has been signed and the debt is not guaranteed by the Municipality of Kubrat. In practice, the local government in Kubrat has shown a seeming willingness to negotiate, but no adequate measures have been taken to repay the obligations.

Last week ENERGO-PRO offered the Municipality of Kubrat an agreement for debt rescheduling and reduction of accrued interest. The expectation is that the Municipality, which is 100% owner of the plumbing company, will become the guarantor for its payment. ENERGO-PRO expects the Municipality to react by Wednesday, December 12, when it is planned to stop the supply of all water supply facilities of the Plumbing “Meden Kladenets”.

The actions of the local government so far show a lack of real interest towards the end users of the plumbing “Meden Kladenets”. In practice, the social function of water supply has been performed for years by ENERGO-PRO, which credits the municipal water supply company. ENERGO-PRO believes that it is high time for the owners of the debtor companies to take responsibility and commit to the repayment of the obligations, and to this end it has proposed an effective quick solution that the Municipality could adopt so far.

The final measure for the shutdown of the power supply is also dictated by the decision of January 1, 2019. Plumbing services in the territory served by the Municipality of Kubrat, to switch to the separate territory of the association “Water Supply-Danube” Razgrad. This could lead to the liquidation of the plumbing “Meden Kladenets” and its obligations will become uncollectible.

ENERGO-PRO expects the Municipality to react by Wednesday, December 12, when it is planned to stop the supply of all water supply facilities of “Meden Kladenets”. The Municipality of Kubrat has mechanisms to change the situation with an extraordinary meeting of the City Council and signing the agreement proposed by ENERGO-PRO, which does not commit them to immediate payment of the debt, but gives them a grace period of one year. The municipality must become a guarantor for these payments in order to avoid power outages for all water supply facilities in the Municipality of Kubrat.

Societies of public importance, which are state and municipal property, are among the biggest debtors of ENERGO-PRO. Over BGN 10 million are the total liabilities for delivered electricity. Among the problematic companies are other municipal and state companies with which ENERGO-PRO conducts an active dialogue. All cases are being actively worked on and a way is being sought to reach agreements on rescheduling obligations and securing them. ENERGO-PRO will continue to firmly defend its position in search of a solution to the problem of accumulated liabilities that is fair and does not harm bona fide customers.

The accumulated debts make it difficult for the electricity company to pay the obligations to the Electricity System Security Fund, the prices for transmission and access to the ESO, VAT and others. This makes it difficult for normal operation and endangers the security of the entire power system.

A number of responsible institutions have been informed about the measures taken so far — the EWRC, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, DANS and others, in search of assistance to solve the critical situation.