Toplofikatsia: Bulgaria's District Heating Explained

Updated August 19, 2026 · 9 min read

What's in this guide (10 sections)

What it is and where it exists
What it costs in 2026
The billing model that catches everyone
Allocators, and the second company you never chose
Sgradna instalatsia: the most complained-about line in Bulgaria
Can you disconnect?
Tenant or owner: who pays what
The honest verdict
FAQ
Sources

Rent or buy a flat in a Bulgarian block built before roughly 2000 and you have probably inherited a toplofikatsia account whether you asked for one or not. Here is what it costs in 2026, why a bill lands in July that nobody warned you about, and why closing every radiator will not take it to zero.

Skip this if you have a new build with its own boiler, a house, or an address outside the fifteen towns with a network. See utilities setup and electricity prices.

What it is and where it exists

A plant burns mostly natural gas and pumps hot water through underground pipes to a substation in your basement. Risers carry it to your radiators and hot tap. No boiler, no gas bill — and no control over the water temperature arriving, only over how much heat your radiators release.

Sofia is the system: Toplofikatsia Sofia covers most of the panel-block city and is widely reported to serve over 430,000 accounts. Plovdiv is second, run by EVN Bulgaria Toplofikatsia. A March 2026 state inspection covered fifteen heat utilities in all — the rest in Varna, Burgas, Pleven, Pernik, Ruse, Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo, Razgrad, Sliven, Montana, Bansko, Stamboliyski and Galabovo. But "Varna has district heating" does not mean your Varna flat does: outside Sofia these networks reach a few neighborhoods, not the whole city.

The season runs 1 October to 30 April, but the switch-on is not automatic: it follows three consecutive days averaging below +12 °C outdoors, usually late October.

What it costs in 2026

The regulator, KEVR, sets heat prices once a year for a period running 1 July to 30 June, and quotes them without VAT; households pay 20% on top. The July 2026 decision raised prices 4.58% on average nationally and 5.50% in Sofia — far short of the 29% Toplofikatsia Sofia had asked for.

City and operator	EUR/MWh excl. VAT	EUR/MWh incl. VAT
Sofia — Toplofikatsia Sofia	73.30	87.96
Veliko Tarnovo — Toplofikatsia-VT	72.49	86.99
Varna — Veolia Energy Varna	71.63	85.96
Plovdiv — EVN Bulgaria Toplofikatsia	70.93	85.12
Burgas — Toplofikatsia Burgas	45.50	54.60

The right-hand column is the regulated price plus 20% VAT; Veliko Tarnovo publishes both figures itself, which confirms the rate. Burgas is cheaper because of how its heat is produced, and is no benchmark for anywhere else.

The next table is an estimate, not a published figure: a plausible range of season use by flat size, priced at Sofia's 87.96 EUR/MWh with VAT. Insulation and how warm you keep the place move this enormously.

Flat size	Plausible season use	Rough season cost, incl. VAT
Up to 49 m²	3–5 MWh	260–440 EUR
50–69 m²	5–7 MWh	440–620 EUR
70–99 m²	6–9 MWh	530–790 EUR
100 m² and over	9–12 MWh	790–1,060 EUR

Metering fees come on top. Toplofikatsia Sofia publishes them with VAT included: 1.08 EUR a month for account processing, 0.72 EUR per radiator allocator, 0.72 EUR for a hot-water meter, 0.78 EUR for a flat-level heat meter. Heat accounting firms raised their own charges sharply for 2026/27 — Techem quotes roughly 2.60–3.00 EUR a month for a standard flat, against 2.30 EUR before. See also cost of living and the calculator.

The billing model that catches everyone

You are not billed for what you used this month. You pay a forecast instalment based on what the flat consumed last season — a roughly level amount all year, including summer months when only hot water runs.

Afterwards the meters are read and the real figure lands. In Sofia the heat accounting firm must deliver your izravnitelna smetka, or reconciliation statement, by 15 July; you can object until 31 August; the general invoice settling the difference is payable within 45 calendar days.

For 2024/25 in Sofia the company reported 48% of customers owed money back and 52% facing a top-up, the biggest single band being 24% refunded 10–100 BGN — roughly 5–51 EUR at the fixed changeover rate of 1.95583 BGN to the euro.

This is the trap for new arrivals. Your instalments were set by the previous occupant's behavior. Move into a flat an elderly owner kept at 17 °C, heat it to 23 °C all winter, and the bills look small right up until the reconciliation arrives. If your flat runs warmer, apply to raise the forecast share.

Allocators, and the second company you never chose

Only the building has a real heat meter, in the basement. Flats have allocators (razpredeliteli) clipped to each radiator, recording a relative index rather than kilowatt-hours. A registered heat accounting firm reads them and divides the building's measured total between flats.

That firm is separate from the heating company, chosen by the owners association, and billed through the heating company's invoice. In Sofia the registered firms include Techem Services, Brunata, Nelbo, Termokomplekt, Toplokontrol and MX Elveko.

Deny access for the annual reading and the flat is charged on an extrapolated maximum rather than actual use. That is fading: Toplofikatsia Sofia said in February 2026 that around 60% of customers had remotely readable devices, and from 1 January 2027 all must be, at the household's expense.

Sgradna instalatsia: the most complained-about line in Bulgaria

Hot risers pass through your walls and ceiling, heating the flat whether your radiators are open or shut. Bulgarian law treats that pipework as a common part of the building, so every owner pays a share regardless — sgradna instalatsia, "building installation".

Toplofikatsia Sofia puts it at 15–20% of the heat in a well-maintained building, rising to 50–60% or more where there are empty flats or a damaged system. It also claims a flat with every valve closed still holds at least 12 °C on the coldest days.

The principle has survived challenge — from the Constitutional Court in 2010 and the EU Court of Justice on 5 December 2019, in joined Bulgarian cases C-708/17 and C-725/17. What the courts blocked, during 2025, was the formula sizing it, leaving bills in a legal vacuum for a season. The Ministry of Energy published a replacement in the State Gazette on 5 May 2026, bringing in the building's energy class and the type of internal installation; consumer advocates argue the underlying calculation barely changed, so expect this to stay contested. A general assembly can instead fix the share at a flat percentage, which the ordinance allows between 20% and 40%.

Can you disconnect?

Partly, and it helps less than you would hope.

An individual owner can apply to have supply to their own radiators stopped, and the company seals the valves. But Article 153(6) of the Energy Act keeps you a customer for heat from the building installation and common-area radiators, and the metering fees continue: the bill shrinks, it does not vanish. Nor does the law let you rip the radiators and pipework out.

A whole building can leave, but only on a general assembly decision backed by owners of at least two-thirds of the property by ideal parts. If you are buying property here, you buy into whatever your neighbors decide.

Tenant or owner: who pays what

The account belongs to the owner. A tenant can be registered as payer with the owner's notarized consent and a copy of the lease. After a sale the new owner must notify the heating company within 30 days, with proof of ownership and a notarized agreement recording handover readings.

Two things before you sign a lease. The reconciliation bill can arrive months after you move in, covering a period when somebody else lived there, so get handover readings in writing. And utility claims count as periodic payments, time-barred after three years under a binding 2012 decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation — but only if the debtor raises it in court. More in renting long term and water and building fees.

A targeted heating allowance of 64.39 EUR a month runs from November 2026 to March 2027, 321.95 EUR in all, but the income thresholds are strict.

The honest verdict

Per kilowatt-hour it is usually the cheapest way to keep a Bulgarian panel flat warm, and the least effort. Against that: almost no control, an unavoidable fixed component, and a reconciliation cycle that makes budgeting hard. A 530–790 EUR season for a 70–99 m² Sofia flat is real money against a 620.20 EUR minimum wage, though modest on expat incomes. The expensive mistakes are procedural — no access for the reading, an inherited instalment left unadjusted, no handover readings. See the moving to Bulgaria guide.

This is general information, not legal advice. Disconnection, liability and debt turn on your contract and your building; take advice before acting.

FAQ

I closed all my radiators. Why is there still a bill?

The risers in your walls are a common part of the building and heat your flat anyway — Toplofikatsia Sofia says a flat with all valves closed still holds at least 12 °C in deep winter. That charge, sgradna instalatsia, is 15–20% of a healthy building's heat and more in a neglected one.

What is the bill I received in July or August?

The annual reconciliation. Your monthly payments were forecasts based on last season; this settles them against what the allocators recorded. In Sofia the statement is due by 15 July, objections close 31 August, the invoice is payable within 45 days.

Why does hot water cost different amounts in different blocks?

You are billed not for cubic meters but for the energy used to heat them, at the same rate per MWh as your radiators, so poor insulation costs you more per cubic meter. Without a hot-water meter a service norm applies: up to 280 liters per person per day, capped at 8 m³ a month.

Who do I contact about a problem?

Both companies, depending on the problem. Price, invoices and account changes go to the heating company; readings, access appointments and objections to the reconciliation go to the heat accounting firm named on your bill.

Sources

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