About 40 Greenpeace activists and volunteers took part in a light action against energy poverty in Bulgaria. The aim of the demonstration was to focus attention on the increasing number of energy poor in the country and the lack of systematic, long-term solutions to tackle the problem. The event took place yesterday in the heart of the old town of Plovdiv – the Ancient Theatre of Philippopolis, and the occasion for the initiative was the International Week for Combating Energy Poverty.
The activists motivated their actions with data from the Social Assistance Agency. According to them, in the current heating season we are for the first time crossing the threshold of BGN 200 million paid as targeted heating benefits to over 365 000 households.
„We have made an enquiry to the Agency and found that the support money is increasing this heating season. This was to be an amount invested in systemic solutions to tackle fuel poverty – renewables, energy efficiency measures, energy communities. Every year, however, the government chooses to hand out hundreds of millions of leva in aid, and this money disappears like dirty smoke up the chimney. The people who receive them are not just energy poor, they are hostages of an inefficient and unreformed system. That is why we insist that support for energy poor households should be focused on sustainable and long-lasting solutions to increase energy efficiency and use clean renewable energy,“, Balin Balinov, Coordinator of the Energy Solutions campaign at Greenpeace Bulgaria, said.
The activists have chosen Plovdiv for their action because the district is among those with the highest number of orders for targeted heating assistance. It is followed by Blagoevgrad, Pleven, Vratsa and Sofia.
