Electricity prices in Bulgaria
What a household in Bulgaria pays for electricity, where the power comes from, and how the country differs from its neighbours.
Bulgaria pays some of the lowest household electricity prices in the European Union, and since 1 January 2026 it pays them in euros. Behind the low figure sit two things: a large nuclear plant at Kozloduy on the Danube, and a household market where the regulator still approves the price most families pay, while businesses buy at prices linked to the wholesale market.
The wholesale market itself is thoroughly European. Bulgaria forms a single bidding zone, and its day-ahead price is set each day on the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) within the European market coupling. It therefore often moves in step with Romania and Greece, while Kozloduy and the lignite plants of the Maritsa basin decide how much the country can supply on its own.
The exchange's hourly prices in Bulgaria may not be freely republished, so this page does not show them. The household prices here are Eurostat's official figures, updated every six months.
Where does the electricity in Bulgaria come from?
Gross electricity generation in 2024 by energy source. Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_peh).
Household price since 2023
Average price per kWh, all-in, for a household using 2,500–5,000 kWh a year. Source: Eurostat (nrg_pc_204).
A household in Bulgaria using 2,500–5,000 kWh a year paid 13.4 c/kWh on average, all-in, in H1 2026, 3% more than a year before (Eurostat).
Eurostat's figure for each half-year, with taxes, levies, network costs and VAT. Updated twice a year.
How the electricity price works in Bulgaria
A regulated price at home, a market price for business
Two systems run side by side. Households on the low-voltage grid are mostly supplied by a regional end supplier at a price approved by the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC), normally reviewed once a year with new prices from 1 July. Companies have bought on the free market for years and pay what the exchange and their contracts dictate. Whether households should follow them onto market prices is a recurring political argument, because family bills would then swing far more.
The transmission grid is run by the Electricity System Operator (ESO), while regional grid companies handle distribution. Because IBEX is coupled with the rest of the EU, the cheapest available power flows across borders until the interconnectors are full; only when they are does Bulgaria's price separate from its neighbours'.
What a Bulgarian electricity bill contains
For a household on the regulated tariff, the bill bundles several items: the energy itself, a charge for the transmission network, a charge for the local distribution network and a contribution towards so-called obligations to society, which help pay for renewable support and similar commitments. The regulator approves each component, which is why the final figure changes in steps rather than hour by hour. VAT is added on top. Since the changeover, all tariffs have been converted from leva to euros at the fixed rate.
Kozloduy outages, carbon costs and cheap middays
Much of Bulgaria's wholesale price is imported: a heatwave in Greece, low Danube water in Romania or expensive gas in the region feed through the market coupling. At home, three factors matter most. Refuelling outages at Kozloduy remove a big block of steady supply for weeks. The lignite plants must buy EU emission allowances, so their costs rise with the carbon price. And the rapid build-out of solar has made sunny middays cheap, while evenings, when the sun sets and air-conditioning is still running, are often the dearest hours of the day.
Nuclear, lignite and a solar boom
Nuclear power is the backbone. Kozloduy's two operating reactors, units 5 and 6 of 1,000 megawatts each, deliver the largest share of Bulgaria's electricity; four older units were shut down in the years before EU accession in 2007, and new units are planned at the same site. Lignite from the Maritsa East mines near Stara Zagora is the second pillar and matters most in winter, although its future is the subject of a long debate about phasing out coal.
Solar has grown faster than any other source since the early 2020s, in large parks and on rooftops alike. Hydropower from dams in the Rila and Rhodope mountains, gas and a modest amount of wind complete the picture.
How Bulgaria compares with Romania and Greece
North of the Danube, Romania has a more varied mix with a large hydro share, and it ended its household price cap in 2025, so Romanian families now pay market-based prices, the opposite of the Bulgarian model. To the south, Greece relies on gas, wind and sun and often has higher wholesale prices, so much of Bulgaria's surplus flows south. Hungary, another country with a large nuclear plant and regulated household tariffs, is the closest match on policy, even though the two share no border.
Bulgaria compared with its neighbours
In 2024, nuclear made 41%, coal, lignite and peat made 23% and solar made 14% of the electricity generated in Bulgaria. Wind, solar, hydro, nuclear and bioenergy together made 70% of generation in Bulgaria.
Gross electricity generation in 2024 by energy source. Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_peh). Pumped hydro is left out.
Voltly does not cover Bulgaria yet
Voltly shows hourly prices in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Netherlands and Belgium.
Voltly is for Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Questions about the electricity price in Bulgaria
- What does an ordinary household in Bulgaria pay for electricity?
- A household in Bulgaria using 2,500–5,000 kWh a year paid 13.4 c/kWh per kWh on average, all-in, in H1 2026, according to Eurostat. The price varies with the network company and the contract.
- How much of the electricity in Bulgaria comes from nuclear?
- 41% of the electricity generated in Bulgaria came from nuclear in 2024 (Eurostat), the largest single source.
- How does the power mix in Bulgaria compare with the neighbours?
- In 2024: Bulgaria: nuclear 41%, coal, lignite and peat 23%; Romania: hydro 26%, nuclear 21%; Greece: gas 37%, wind 21%.
- Why does this page show no hourly prices for Bulgaria?
- Bulgaria's day-ahead prices are published by the IBEX exchange, and its data may not be freely republished. The page therefore shows Eurostat's official household prices, which are updated twice a year and include network charges, levies and taxes. The hourly price itself is still formed every day in the European market coupling.
- What did the euro change for electricity prices?
- The currency switch did not by itself make any tariff dearer. On 1 January 2026 regulated prices were converted at the fixed rate of 1.95583 leva per euro, the same rate the currency board had used for years. Eurostat has always reported Bulgarian prices in euros as well, so the household price series on this page continues without a break.
- Why is electricity so cheap for Bulgarian households?
- Partly because the regulator approves the household price, which smooths out wholesale swings, and partly because much of the supply comes from Kozloduy and domestic lignite. Measured against purchasing power, though, the gap to western Europe is smaller than the euro figures suggest, because wages are lower too.