Only for the last year and a half Bulgaria lost over 300 million levs from the support of the coal mining sector. This happens by removing excise duty on home coal consumption, concluding of long-term binding contracts for purchase of electric energy from coals, granting of free carbon quotas to the coal stations, facilitating expropriation of land for coal mining and rescheduling payments of the coal mining enterprises to the social security system.
The analysis by “Greenpeace”-Bulgaria shows that the state gives legislative, administrative and economic concessions and subsidies to the coal-mining sector, which allow it to continue to exist and to inflict damage on health and environment. At the same time Bulgaria is at the first places in Europe on air pollution with fine dust particles while among the main reasons for the poor air quality is the coal burning for industrial and household purposes.
Under the form of direct and indirect subsidies the state supports the existence of the coal mining sector while at the same time besides people’s health, it also injures its budget.
For example, by force of the long-term contracts for energy purchase, the state is entitled to buying the electric energy produced by HES “AES Maritsa East 1” and HES “ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3”. For the current regulatory period from 1st July 2014 till 30th June 2015 only the total amount of the purchased but not consumed energy from the both stations will be to the sum of 274,4 million levs. This leads to increase in the financial indebtedness of NEC, as well as the load to the whole energy system.
For the period July 2013-July 2014 only, the state has not collected concession payments from 7 coal mining enterprises to the amount of more than 19,5 million levs.
During the period 2007-2010 the state allocated 37 million levs for recultivation and restoration of environment after decommissioning of eight state coal mining enterprises.
“We think that it is time Bulgaria accepted a vision oriented to preservation of people’s health and the cleanness of environment but not to policies that represent life-support systems for the coal dinosaurs”, commented Teodora Stoyanova, coordinator of the campaign “Climate and energy” of “Greenpeace”-Bulgaria.
For this aim the organization insists for:
• Legislative changes which will eliminate the existing concessions for the coalmining companies;
• Liberalization of the energy market which will allow modernization of the sector;
• Suspension of the institutional support for the coal mining sector, which is realized by different methods: rescheduling of social payments, receiving of grant funding by “Kozloduy” Fund, giving of free quotas for carbon emissions.
“The future energy policy should be focused on policies which will direct the sector to low-carbon energy production and will promote the development and entrance of small (up to 30 kW) RES installations at the level of households, small business and municipalities. The Bulgarian population and economy deserve a more secure, independent and accessible energy system”, further comments Teodora Stoyanova.
You can find additional examples and detailed information for the direct and indirect support which the state grants to the coal mining sector in the whole report "Coal dinosaurs on life-support systems"