I. ENERGY PASSPORTS PREPARATION

According to Regulation No 5 from 28.12.2006 for technical passports for construction sites, after the construction process of a new building, as well as after reconstruction, basic renovation or reconstruction of an existing construction site, a Technical passport of the building is to be prepared, and on the basis of it is issued an authorization for using the site. In Section IV of the Technical passport is included the Energy passport of the building as well. It is prepared with the main purpose of valuation and establishment of the correspondence of the energy characteristics of the buildings with the regulation requirements for energy efficiency and the actual status of the energy consumption of the buildings during their economic-reasoned exploitation period.

The energy efficiency audit is part of the general audit of the construction sites and is executed by juridical persons, who are authorized and entered in the public registry of the Energy Efficiency Agency.

II. CERTIFICATION OF THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF BUILDINGS

The energy inspection (also referred to as energy audit) represents a systematized approach which, for a certain construction site, provides the opportunity to:

• make an analysis of energy characteristics and compare them with the accepted norms;
• draw up a report about the results from the inspection;
• issue a buildings certificate.

Pursuant to Art. 10 of Ordinance 16-295, there are two types of certificates issued by the accredited companies: Category A and Category B.

Category A Certificate is issued for:
- the buildings with integrated energy characteristics value, equaling or less than the standard value which complies with the provisions of the Ordinance under Art. 15, Para. 2 of the Energy Efficiency Act and of the Ordinance under Art. 169, Para. 3 of the Territory Structure Act in relation to Art. 169, Para. 1, Item 7 TSA;
- the buildings constructed until 1990, with integrated energy characteristics value, equaling or less than the standard value which complies with the provisions of the respective legislative acts on designing, construction and approval, effective as of 1999.

Category B Certificate is issued for:
- the buildings with integrated energy characteristics value, equaling or less than the standard value which complies with the provisions of the respective legislative acts on designing, construction and approval, effective as of the year of commissioning of the buildings.

The buildings, which have received a Category A or Category B Certificate, are exempt from Real Property Tax under Art. 24, Para. 18 and Para. 19 of the Local Taxes and Fees Act which read as follows:

Art. 24. (1) The following shall be exempt form tax:

18. (new, State Gazette, No. 18/2004) the buildings which have received a Category A Certificate, issued according to the procedure, established by the Energy Efficiency Act and the Ordinance on Certification of Buildings: for a period of 7 years, reckoned from the year next succeeding the year of issuance of the said certificate;

19. (new, State Gazette, No. 18/2004) the buildings which have received a Category B Certificate, issued according to the procedure, established by the Energy Efficiency Act and the Ordinance on Certification of Buildings: for a period of 3 years, reckoned from the year next succeeding the year of issuance of the said certificate.

III. INSPECTION OF INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES

In industry, the modernization of equipment and processes is one of the main ways of improving their energy efficiency. The automation of the heating and energy equipment management contributes to the overall effect of achieving energy efficiency.

The Energy Efficiency Act stipulates a compulsory regime for implementing energy efficiency measures for industrial systems with energy consumption, equaling or higher than 3000 MWh/year and a compulsory regime for energy efficiency measures for buildings with effective area exceeding 1000 m².

Data of the Energy Efficiency Agency show that over 400 enterprises throughout Bulgaria are subject to compulsory inspection. Information on the enterprises, which have filed an energy consumption declaration, will be uploaded in the official site of the Agency.

The industrial enterprises with such consumption are obliged to declare their annual energy consumption in a standard declaration, filed at the Energy Efficiency Agency.

Generally the purpose of energy efficiency for industrial sites can be achieved by ensuring the optimum running of the manufacturing and technological process with the required quality by minimum energy consumption. In this context the energy consumption management in an industrial enterprise is a key activity to carry out an overall energy management. Its implementation leads to reduction in the energy costs in the specific production and decrease in the energy component in the prime cost of the end product or service, retaining their quality and competitiveness.

For industrial sites, the officially recognized document, certifying compliance of the site’s energy characteristics with the energy efficiency provisions, is the so called company standard. The energy efficiency company standards are drawn up in conformity with the methodology for calculating the annual energy consumption, set out in the Ordinance on the Energy Characteristics of Sites. The company standard is an individual document for each industrial site and it determines the standard values of the site’s energy characteristics according to the type of the technological process, the fuel and energy system, the electrical and energy system, the heat and energy system and the systems for water supply, compressed air, air conditioning, etc.