Electricity tariffs in Bulgaria: day/night rates and market prices
Information checked:
In this guide
A low midday price on Bulgaria’s wholesale chart does not necessarily make lunchtime the cheapest time to run an appliance at home. Your bill may use fixed day/night rates instead. First identify your supply arrangement, then use the chart or tariff timetable that actually matches it.
Regulated household supply is not a personal spot-price contract
Bulgarian households can buy from an end supplier under the regulated household arrangement or choose a licensed supplier on the free market. These are different products, even when a familiar company name appears on both. Electrohold: regulated and free markets.
The current household tariff pages of the three suppliers below refer to KEVR Decision Ц-13 of 1 July 2026. KEVR is the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission. Do not assume an old price table or an earlier liberalisation announcement describes your current bill.
Article 30a distinguishes the supplier’s acquisition-based price from the household price based on KEVR’s base value and supply component. Exchange procurement does not itself create a personal spot-price contract. KEVR: Energy Act, Article 30a.
- One-rate supply: one agreed rate applies regardless of when you consume.
- Day/night supply: the applicable rate changes at scheduled boundaries, not whenever the wholesale chart changes colour.
- Market-linked supply: the contract specifies an index and calculation method. A monthly market average and prices weighted by your actual interval consumption are not interchangeable.
Night hours: check the calendar and the meter
The published household night schedule is 23:00–07:00 from 1 April to 31 October, and 22:00–06:00 from 1 November to 31 March. The remaining hours are daytime. These are calendar-month boundaries, not the dates when clocks change. Use Europe/Sofia local time; the ending hour starts the daytime period. Electrohold: tariff hours.
A two-rate meter records day and night consumption separately. If you have only one register, ask about changing the metering arrangement and its cost; ENERGO-PRO describes this as a requested, chargeable service. Do not alter the meter or its clock yourself. ENERGO-PRO: metering and tariffs.
Two registers do not establish that a meter supports interval-based dynamic billing. Ask the operator to confirm what data it can provide. Also check which register means day or night on your own bill rather than guessing from the display labels.
For a day/night contract, moving a task from one daytime hour to another normally gives no tariff saving if the rate is unchanged. A cheap Sunday afternoon on the wholesale chart is not automatically a night-rate period.
Three suppliers: compare the right columns, not just the brand
Checked on 13 September 2026. This is an explanation of published household arrangements, not a cheapest-supplier ranking or a complete list of licensed traders. Start with the supplier and network operator printed on your bill.
| Supplier | Published household information | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Electrohold Sales | One-rate and day/night prices, with separate energy and energy-plus-network columns. | The listed figures exclude VAT. Network prices depend on the operator serving the property. Household prices |
| EVN Electricity Supply | Energy-only and network-inclusive prices, including a VAT-inclusive column, for the current tariff period. | Do not add network costs or VAT again to the inclusive column. Household prices |
| ENERGO-PRO Sales | Current and previous-period tables, metering arrangements and separate network charges for Electricity Distribution North. | Use the table matching the consumption dates; the current figures are before VAT. Prices and tariffs |
Do not assume you can obtain another region’s network price by changing supplier. Compare the same address, period, meter type and tax basis. Keep any free-market quotation separate from the regulated household price table of the same group.
Worked example: how much can moving a task save?
Use this fictional monthly example, not a supplier quotation: 300 kWh, of which 180 kWh are daytime and 120 kWh nighttime. Assume all-in rates of €0.15/kWh by day and €0.09/kWh by night, already including network costs and VAT, with no additional fee. The rates are invented to make the calculation clear.
| Item | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Day | 180 × €0.15 | €27.00 |
| Night | 120 × €0.09 | €10.80 |
| Total | 300 kWh | €37.80 |
| After shifting | €21 + €14.40 | €35.40 |
After moving 40 kWh to night hours, daytime use costs 140 × €0.15 = €21, and nighttime use costs 160 × €0.09 = €14.40.
Moving 40 kWh from day to night saves €2.40, not the difference between the highest and lowest wholesale bars. The original weighted rate is €0.126/kWh, not the simple average of €0.12. A one-rate example at €0.15/kWh would cost €45.00 for the same consumption. These comparisons hold only with the stated inclusive prices and no extra fees.
An additional €3 monthly fee would outweigh that €2.40 shifting benefit: €35.40 + €3 = €38.40. Moving those 40 kWh between two equally priced daytime hours saves €0.00. Shift only where practical and safe; essential heating, medical equipment and food safety take priority.
To reproduce the arithmetic in our comparison tool, select EUR and enter 300 kWh, reference price 0.126, offer A markup 0, monthly fee 0 and multiplier 1. Set shared costs to zero because these example rates already include them. With shifted consumption 0 the result is €37.80; with 40 kWh and a price gap of 0.06 it is €35.40. For the one-rate comparison, use fixed rate 0.15 and fixed fee 0.
This is a manual arithmetic illustration, not a dynamic-tariff quotation. The tool does not automatically split day/night consumption, apply KEVR compensation or reproduce invoice rounding. Enter your own weighted contractual rate; do not paste our wholesale daily average into this all-in example.
Could a dynamic contract make the wholesale chart useful?
The published Energy Act, Article 38a, provides for dynamic contracts with at least one supplier for customers with suitable smart metering. It also requires information on costs and risks, appropriate metering and explicit consent to the change. KEVR: Energy Act, Article 38a.
That legal provision does not verify a ready-to-sign household offer from each supplier above. We did not verify such a product with a complete current formula in the reviewed household pages. Request a written offer for your exact supply point; do not reuse business-only terms.
Ask whether the reference is the Bulgarian IBEX/БНЕБ day-ahead market, which interval and time zone apply, and whether billing uses your measured consumption or a standard profile. Check the markup, balancing charges, minimum price, monthly fee, missing-data rule and exit terms. These are questions to resolve in the offer, not claims that every supplier charges each item.
Only an appropriate contractual link makes moving consumption towards cheaper wholesale intervals directly relevant. A negative exchange price is not automatically free electricity: a hypothetical −€0.01/kWh reference plus a €0.02/kWh markup is still €0.01/kWh, before network costs and taxes, assuming no price floor.
Read the compensation line and currency correctly
Electrohold explains that the compensation entry on its household end-supplier invoice is informational: it shows costs already covered and is not another discount to subtract from the payable amount. Its FAQ distinguishes this mechanism from free-market and last-resort supply. Do not carry that compensation into a competing offer unless eligibility is explicitly confirmed. Electrohold: household compensation FAQ.
Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, at 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN. Do not compare an old lev amount directly with a euro amount or interpret the currency change alone as a price cut. ECB: Bulgaria introduces the euro.
Unit conversion is separate: 100 EUR/MWh = €0.10/kWh = 10 ct/kWh. Our wholesale prices exclude retail bill components. For an inclusive supplier quote, do not add those components twice. EVN’s current page explicitly distinguishes prices before and after 20% VAT. EVN: price columns and network charges.
Before switching, compare a full year and confirm the route back
KEVR has published an official offer-comparison platform with household and meter-type filters. Follow its official entry point and verify the current availability and scope of an offer; a platform’s existence is not proof of an eligible dynamic product. KEVR: comparison platform.
- Use a year of your own day/night consumption, not just a cheap summer month.
- Record the full supplier name, supply regime, network operator, meter eligibility and identifier for the supply point.
- Compare all-in costs on the same tax basis, including any optional services and contractual fees.
- Get the start date, notice period, renewal and termination conditions in writing.
- Ask what happens if you want to return to household end-supplier service. Electrohold publishes a separate application process with indicative, not guaranteed, dates; do not assume an immediate return. Electrohold: return from free-market or last-resort supply.
- Check the first bill against meter readings, the tariff period and the accepted offer. Address a billing query to the supplier and a metering query to the network operator.
For a household on day/night rates, the first useful tool is often the meter’s tariff timetable. The wholesale chart becomes a billing guide only when your contract actually follows it.