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On possible life in a world without monopolies
Zinozin Stanev and his "island of independence" in Bulgaria's Vidin region
Monday 13 May 2024 08:20
Monday, 13 May 2024, 08:20
PHOTO BNR Vidin
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Amendments to the Energy Act adopted in the Bulgarian Parliament have moved the start of the transitional period of electricity market liberalisation forward in time by one year - to 1 July 2025. The changes should provide a gradual opportunity for full liberalisation of the retail energy market. Whether and how this will affect domestic and industrial energy consumers, whether electricity will be more or less expensive, remains to be seen.
In the meantime, a story from North West Bulgaria shows us how possible life is if you choose to be independent of some of the public utility providers such as the water and electricity companies. The main character in the story is Zinosin Stanev, who for 15 years has been living like this in the field between the villages of Inovo and Major Uzunovo in the region of Vidin. Initially he had one bungalow and 4 decares of land, which today are already 9.
Зинозин Станев
PHOTO БНР - Видин
"I like it, I'm my own 'king and master'. I don't want to run electricity here and will do anything to make it entirely my production. It will either be from wind or solar panels, but I don't want to be connected to anyone, I want to have my small autonomy. I've planted a decare and something with fruit trees, almonds, hazelnuts and a few walnuts," Zinosin said 15 years ago when he gave his first interview to BNR's regional radio station in Vidin.
PHOTO БНР - Видин
Today Zinozin continues to live in the same way as then. He has an electricity generation unit, a wind generator, solar panels and a well from which to draw the water he needs, but admits that sometimes he wishes his farm had electricity, even though he knows that the monopolists "are just playing with people's patience and raising prices."
"I am not dependent on them, however if I had electricity it would be a different thing because I need it for my tools. For now I manage, two solar panels help me for the lights, radio and TV. For water I have a borehole, but we also dug a 12-metre shaft with an electric pump, which I use mainly for watering."
PHOTO БНР - Видин
For a refrigerator, our compatriot uses the shaft and in winter he says he doesn't need it.
However, he is about to adapt a cooler to run on gas. One of the outbuildings will serve as his workshop, where he already has a lathe. He has a homemade tractor, and has adapted part of a moped, to which he has attached a trailer and uses it to get around. What does he admit about loneliness?
PHOTO БНР - Видин
"I'm used to it and it doesn't impress me. I always have something to do, no matter if it's light or dark.
I have my contacts and I mandatorily go to the city twice-thrice a week to have coffee with friends."
Zinosin has reduced his expenses to those for the purchase of an appliance or plant protection products. He says he has no pension and no secure income, but he manages because his wife is in Italy. He is not complaining and is happy with what he has achieved in the past 15 years.
PHOTO БНР - Видин
"For 15 years so much. To be all right, it requires a lot of money, which not everyone has, but one must be satisfied with even the little one has and manage to do it oneself," confidently says the man who managed to create his autonomous "island", independent of monopolies.
Compiled by Joan Kolev (based on an interview of Yordanka Gerasimova from BNR Vidin)
Photos: BNR Vidin
This publication was created by: БНР екип