Bulgarian president refers to Constitutional Court renewable power charge

SOFIA (Bulgaria), January 14 (SeeNews) – Bulgarian president Rosen Plevneliev has referred to the country's Constitutional Court a recent decision by parliament to impose a 20% charge on revenues from wind and solar power generation, the president's office said.

The president is of the opinion that the charge is inconsistent with the fundamental constitutional principles of the state committed to the rule of law and free economic enterprise, a statement posted on the website of the presidency on Monday said. According to the president, it creates conditions for unequal treatment of producers of solar and wind electricity as it does not apply for other producers of electricity from renewable sources, such as hydropower or biomass, nor for the other economic entities from which the state purchases electricity at preferential prices.

In December parliament, acting on a proposal by the leader of the ultra-nationalist Ataka party, Volen Siderov, decided to impose a 20% charge on revenues from wind and solar power generation as of January 1, 2014. The decision prompted a series of protests by local renewable power producers who described the new measures as "discriminatory", saying they will destroy the small and medium-sized businesses in the energy sector and will halt the process of diversification of energy sources in the country with serious consequences for energy security.

The petition does not stay the enforcement of the decision on the introduction of the tax.

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