site.btaWater Price Hikes Have Been Coordinated by Water and Sewerage Holding Chair, GERB-UDF Says

GERB-UDF MP Nikolay Nankov told journalists in the National Assembly on Friday that the Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Water and Sewerage Holding, Lozko Lozev, has coordinated water price hikes in Bulgaria.

"He is currently a regional coordinator for Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) in Haskovo, while being chairman of the Holding," Nankov said.

He said he obtained the information from official correspondence of over 30 directors of water institutions.

During a briefing of the Council of Ministers earlier on Friday, caretaker PM Andrey Gurov said that the proposal for the water price hike was adopted in December 2025 by the Energy and Water Regulation Commission (EWRC) but was postponed on purpose, so that "it would explode in the hands of the caretaker cabinet".

"There was no deadline in former minister Ivan Ivanov's directions, so the words 'the hike was postponed' are semantically incorrect. The increase was not supposed to happen this or next year in any region where there are water supply issues until those issues are resolved," Nankov added.

Former Minister of Energy Zhecho Stankov said that according to the EWRC decision, utility bills should have increased by no more than 2.5%, and not 14.5% as PM Gurov mentioned. "I advise PM Gurov to talk with his Energy Minister Traicho Traikov before giving such statements," Stankov continued.

In relation to the Yes, Bulgaria party demanding Water and Sewerage Holding's Irena Georgieva-Deneva's resignation, Nankov said: "I assume that the members of the party communicate not with each other, but through the media."