site.btaConsumer Protection Commission Begins Inspections Related to Inflated Electricity Bills

Caretaker Minister of Economy and Industry Irina Shtonova has notified the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC) to launch on-site inspections at the offices of the three electricity supply companies in Bulgaria, the Ministry reported. These inspections are in connection with numerous complaints and alerts from consumers related to inflated electricity bills in January 2026. This is happening after a thorough analysis of the alerts received by the Commission since the beginning of the year, the Ministry added. 

The Ministry states that the aim of the inspections is to guarantee the highest level of consumer protection. During the inspections, information on the administration of complaints will be requested from the energy operators - how many complaints were received, which of them they considered justified, respectively how many were satisfied and how and what the consumers' complaints were expressed in, etc. Standard contracts and the general terms and conditions for energy supply applicable to them will also be requested.

To provide the requested data and documents, companies have a three-day period, which expires at the end of the day on March 2. The CPC will be uncompromising in implementing the law, including in imposing sanctions, the Ministry states.

By order of Energy and Water Regulatory Commission Chair Plamen Mladenovski, the energy regulator began an extraordinary inspection in early February in connection with media publications and alerts about inflated electricity bills for household consumers. In the second half of the month, Mladenovski announced that as of February 19, the Commission had received about 1,200 complaints. 

Every consumer who has been harmed by inflated electricity bills will be compensated through direct reimbursement or by deducting the overpayment from the next monthly invoice, caretaker Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said last week.