site.btaSilistra Residents Block Border Crossing with Romania in Protest over High Electricity Bills

Residents of Silistra blocked the road leading to the border checkpoint with Romania in protest against high electricity bills. Some of the demonstrators waved Bulgarian flags and carried banners with messages such as “No to monopolies!”, “Stop robbing the people”, and “No to the energy mafia”.

The protest was organized by an informal civic group. According to the organizers, the discontent was triggered by numerous reports and complaints from citizens about increased electricity bills in recent months. Another serious problem cited was the frequent power outages and voltage fluctuations in some settlements, including the villages of Aydemir and Kalipetrovo.

Some of those present said that their bills for January and February were roughly twice as high as those for December, despite no significant difference in electricity consumption. Several participants said they had paid bills of between EUR 300 and 400 for the past month and expressed concerns about the impact on their family budgets. Some protesters also said they were not receiving sufficient clarity about how the bills were calculated and called for a public response from the electricity supplier.

The protest is expected to continue until 2:00 pm.

Over the last weeks, citizens have held protests against the high electricity bills in several cities across the country, including Plovdiv (South Central Bulgaria) and Shumen (Northeastern Bulgaria). On Friday, Caretaker Energy Minister Traicho Traikov stressed that a large share of the higher electricity bills is due to increased energy consumption. He said that on the regulated market in December, compared to November 2025, electricity sales increased by 33% for Electrohold, 47% for Energo-Pro, and 41% for EVN (Southeastern Bulgaria). In January 2026, compared to December 2025, sales rose by 14.5% for Electrohold, 14.3% for Energo-Pro, and 16.2% for EVN.