Cost of living in Bulgaria in 2025

Here is my family's cost of living for January 2025, along with property rentals and purchases analysis for Varna.

We are two adults, two children and six cats. We live in a suburb of Varna, 12 mins by taxi from the centre, in a maisonette of 140m².

Prices have risen since January 2024 for the following...

Property, renting and buying

Utilities - Electricity, and water

Transport - taxi and bus (we do not own a car)

Eating / drinking out

Food and groceries have stayed reasonably static for the past year. The most expensive items are often cleaning products and cat food.

For us , internet and phones have decreased in price, as we cancelled existing contracts and started again, albeit, with the same company, which reduced our monthly cost by over 100%!

We do not have private medical insurance, as we do not see it to be necessary.

Schooling for both our children is free, save for the cost of books and meals. They now both go to different schools, specialising in specific subjects.

I shall start with property. I have done three hours of research, looking at prices for all categories of apartments. I have excluded houses, as there are very few left in Varna - the city is 98% apartment blocks. If you do find any houses for sale, they're either on the very outskirts of the city or in the Greek Quarter and will probably be priced in the millions of euros.

There are still significant numbers of buildings, which look like houses, but most have been converted into two or three apartments and are rarely for sale.

Rental...

Studio suburbs €225 - €450

Studio Greek Quarter/ Central

€175 - €500

1 bed   suburbs €300 - €1,000

1 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€400 - €1,200

2 bed.  suburbs €400 - €1,300

2 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€500 - €1,500

3 bed   suburbs €450 - €1,250

3 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€500 - €1,600

4 bed   suburbs €500 - €2,000

4 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€700 - €2,000

3 or 4 bed Maisonette suburbs

€500 - €2,000

3 or 4 bed Maisonette Greek Quarter/ Central  €700 - €2,000

Purchase...

Studio suburbs           €55,000 - €85,000

Studio Greek Quarter/ Central

€40,000 - €95,000

1 bed   suburbs     €90,000 - €250,000

1 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€96,000 - €250,000

2 bed.  suburbs      €120,000 - €465,000

2 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€100,000 - €650,000

3 bed   suburbs €260,000 - €895,000

3 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€200,000 - €670,000

4 bed   suburbs €265,000 - €800,000

4 bed   Greek Quarter/ Central

€290,000 - €1 million

3 bed Maisonette suburbs

€265,000 - €800,000

3 bed Maisonette Greek Quarter/ Central

€290,000 - €1 million

The following exchange rates apply 31st January 2025...

€1 = 1.95 Leva

£1 = 2.34 Leva

Utilities...

Our electricity bill now averages 200 Leva per month.

Water has increased in price significantly, our monthly bill is now around 80 Leva per month.

We do not have gas, so electricity is used for, heating, cooling, hot water (3 tanks) washing, drying, cooking, lighting and TV/phones/computers.

Our municipality tax is 240 Leva (€123) per year. We pay it yearly and it gives us rubbish collection, daily, from communal bins, street sweeping, street lighting, road repairs, tree pruning and cable tidying.

Transport...

Bus fare structure has changed. You can still pay by cash, by machine on the bus only. The flat fare for 1 hour of use is 2 Leva, or 1½ hours 3 Leva, or 24 hours 4.50 Leva.

Taxi meters start at 2.40 Leva. The average fare, for a 12 minutes ride is around 8 Leva, including tip. From our home to the airport costs around 17 Leva including tip.

Eating and drinking out...

It really depends how much you want to spend!

On the cheap end, you can get main courses for around 8 Leva at lunchtime.

Medium price, a main course will cost between 13 and 18 Leva, excluding beef steak and salmon, which are both pricey.

At an expensive, upmarket restaurant, expect to pay 25 to 30 Leva for a main course.

A typical two courses and drinks for two in our local bar restaurant is around 50 Leva.

Drinks... Beer in a bar is between 4 Leva and 8 Leva, depending on what you have.  Imported is more expensive.

Wine in a bar is around 4.50 Leva a glass (175ml)

Bottled water is around 3 Leva for a large bottle.

Buying food and groceries...

It has to be said that we have not used a big supermarket for over three years now, as our local stores are cheaper.

We spend around 1,500 Leva (€770) per month for four people and six cats.

Typical prices for items...

Toilet cleaning fluid      6 Leva

Liquid soap                    3.7 Leva

Dustbin sacks                8 Leva

Washing up liquid  lg    8 Leva

Bread                              1.75 Leva

Pork neck steak portn. 4 Leva

Milk 2 litres                     5 Leva

Yoghurt large                  3 Leva

Water 500ml bottle        1.10 Leva

Beer Bulgarian 440ml    2 Leva

Beer import 440ml         4.50 Leva

Red wine cheap quality  5 Leva

Red wine medium quality  11 Leva

Red wine top quality       20 Leva

Can of soft drink from      1.5 Leva

Cat food 15kg bag (Turkish)  115 Leva

Fruit and veg is seasonal, so tomatoes in the summer are from 1.2 Leva per kg, in winter, that rises to around 4 Leva per kg.

The same applies to most fruit and veg.

Bananas are around 3.75 Leva per bunch of 6.

Potatoes, onions, cabbage, are cheap all the time.

Internet / TV / phone...

I have a package with A1, that gives me two unlimited phones (EU usage) two routers supplying 200 Mbps internet, two TV boxes, 150 channels, for 77 Leva per month including tax.

The internet routers are 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz two band, so if we're heavily using the 5ghz band, watching TVs, I can swap to the 2.4Ghz WiFi channel.

Other purchases...

Many things have significantly risen in price, particularly DIY products.  I was looking at a new basin and tap recently and there's no change of 500 Leva.

However, there are still bargains to be had, you just have to look!  Did you know that you can get rugs/carpets cleaned at car wash outlets? A mere 20 Leva for our sitting room rug 2m x 1m.

Summary...

Our total spend per month is around 5,000 Leva for the four of us and six cats, eating out once or twice per week, using cafés, on average 4 times per week and having a beer in a bar around twice a week.

...Internet and phones have decreased in price, as we cancelled existing contracts and started again, albeit, with the same company, which reduced our monthly cost by over 100%!
- @cyberescue1

So they're paying you to use their internet and telephone services?  I thought ours were pretty cheap, but I certainly can't get that kind of a deal out of our suppliers.... 😎

@JimJ

It was interesting....   We were with A1 originally, but we were paying stupid money for, what was supposed to be an offer, which included a Samsung 43" TV which we have.  The contract came to an end and because we were paying so much, we terminated it all and went to Vivacom.   They obviously welcomed us with open arms, as I already had two phones and a TV internet package for our studio apartment (Airbnb).  We set an installation day, they came and found there was no box in the block to attach our internet to and they couldn't install one at the present time, as there was already a box of an affiliate company. 

So, canceled Vivacom and went back to A1, who offered the new contract as a special offer.  Got to say the woman serving us, went out of her way to get us the cheapest deal.  Kept my old numbers too.

@cyberescue1

A lot of people complain about A1, but our experience has been mostly okay.  The "mostly" comes from the sharp practices instigated by the new breed of money-grubbing management, who are very much of the "squeeze 'em till they're dry" school.

My wife is a professor of telecommunications and quite a few of her graduate engineers end up working their first real jobs running data centres etc for A1, most of them very unhappily, as those same commercial managers treat the staff with exactly the same attitude.  They soon move on to better jobs in BG or, more often, abroad. 

That said, we too allowed our contract to lapse and just pay from month to month with no more notice period etc required. In our case, we're also paying peanuts as our original contract was with a company which was bought out by a company which was bought out by A1.  They keep offering us "unmissable deals" but the contracts are never as good as what we've already got without one.  To be fair, on the odd occasion when we've had technical problems they've always been quickly and efficiently rectified - at least partly because as well as my wife's reputation as an expert in the field, I also ran my own Networking and Telcomms consultancy in the UK for several decades, after I decided that the law really wasn't my cup of tea. We don't take any prisoners if they try to BS us...😂

@cyberescue1

Wow, those prices are really interesting especially the property for such a relatively poor country. Thank you for sharing a in-depth breakdown. This will be helpful for others, what would be interesting to see how price's differ in other locations of Bulgaria.

I can't offer such a comprehensive break-down of our expenditure but our monthly outlay for 2 people and 3 cats is roughly 2,000 leva, which includes food, electricity, TV/Internet, phone bills for us and my in-laws, plus fuel for two cars.  Having transitioned from street moggies to pampered pussies, our won't eat cheap cat food, so it's Hill's at 22 leva a kg (ridiculously, it's cheaper to buy it by the kilo than to purchase a whole sack) for them, supplemented by pouches of Felix, which I buy in bulk; luckily, there's always somewhere doing a "Special" on the pouches.  I also feed one of the local foxes on dog biscuits.  Ours are indoor cats, so there's an additional expenditure on cat litter, but I use wood heating pellets which absorb liquid better, smell a lot less, and work out 11 leva for a 15kg bag (which lasts around a month).

We have a big house, and run 3 freezers and two fridges (and a big, well-stocked maze in proper Bulgarian fashion).  We have two beefy computer systems running around 18 hours every day, with wired and wifi routers on every floor, plus a couple of industrial-sized network switches and UPSs.  We have have a full burglar alarm system running, plus inside and outside security cameras.  We're pretty hardy souls, so we don't bother with heating too much but turn it on if we do feel cold (now my wife is ill she lives pretty much 24/7 in her study, when she's not at the uni, so her study has been permanently heated over the last year and a bit) - that's supplied by 5 external inverters.  Hot water is again electric, with boilers on every floor. We have two kitchens, one really only used in the summer. We run two dishwashers, one of them every day, plus a washing machine (and tumble-dryer at this time of year). I have a workshop full of electrical equipment, and our security shutters on the house and the garages are electric but probably don't consume very much.  Our total electricity bill has recently gone up following the price increases, and was 273 leva last month - not too bad, I'd say! Our water bill was the princely sum of 10.58 leva. 😀

We have only been out for one meal since Covid (I love cooking, and anyway we prefer to eat and drink at home) so we don't spend anything on restaurants/bars - or taxis.

Last year's municipal tax was 396 leva.We have the house insured to the hilt through a UK-based company; the premium, IIRC is c£450pa. (Ouch!  I just checked the insurance and it's actually £640!  However, that does include £1,000,000 rebuilding, £5,000,000 liability, New-for-Old Contents, Legal Fees in case of court action by/against us etc)

@cyberescue1
Wow, those prices are really interesting especially the property for such a relatively poor country. Thank you for sharing a in-depth breakdown. This will be helpful for others, what would be interesting to see how price's differ in other locations of Bulgaria. - @SimCityAT

I believe Varna is one of the more expensive areas for property now. In the last couple of years it's overtaken Plovdiv and become the second most expensive place to rent or buy.

Excellent information from you both, thanks so much, @cyberescue1 and @JimJ!

We haven't moved yet, and I can't extrapolate from what we spend on a one week visit as often as we can get there between March and October to our costs once we're living in the house full time. But I can say I just paid our council tax -- a whole 44 leva a year!

Electricity costs seem very reasonable, even when I've needed to use electric heating and cooked a lot in the cooler spring and autumn months, I haven't had a bill over 20 leva, though that's only for an eight day stay and would obviously be much higher per week in winter. I'll also need to start buying in wood for the petchkas, though I'll supplement that by collecting what I can from our acre. I'd like to keep the one in the living room, and also reinstall a wood cookstove in the kitchen. The bedrooms will have electric heat, and the hot water system is also electric. As well as buying wood, there are a few black locust trees on our land that should coppice nicely and burn well, though that wood will need a year to dry before it can be used.

The only water bill I've paid was quite high, 119 leva, but that was for three years and included a lot of water used by the various builders, plus a broken outdoor tap that poured out a lot of water before the neighbour noticed and capped it off.

Groceries have gone up quite a bit in price, and depending what you buy, some things may cost more than UK supermarkets. For food for myself, I spend no more than 20 to 30 leva on groceries for a week's stay. I'm vegetarian, eat simply, and don't buy alcohol, but will usually treat myself to chocolate or biscuits and buy something nice for our neighbours, too. When hubby visits, he likes to have lunch at the local cafe most days, that costs 6 leva for a generous serving of shopska salad and chips, plus a drink.

We use public transport. Bus fares are 2.5 leva for the bus from our village to Toshevo, 3 leva from Toshevo to Dobrich, and then 6 leva from Dobrich to Varna. By taxi, that trip is around 120 leva.

We're in Dobrich region, near Toshevo. It's very rural and agricultural, few expats or tourists. Many people are getting by on very low incomes. I believe this is one of the lower cost areas to live in, though prices have noticeably risen in the two and a half years we've had our house.

@janemulberry

Wood really is a pretty expensive means of heating here, beaten only by gas, and that's ignoring the environmental impact.  BG has the cheapest electricity in the EU and we make the most of it, using  InstantPot pressure cookers, induction hobs and airfryers for almost all our cooking. We do have a back-up wood burner on every floor but have only ever lit one of them, and then just once, to check the chimney draw. 😀

I think burned properly (hot and fast with very dry wood so most of the particulates are burned up, and with a lot of thermal mass around the stove to soak up the heat and release it later), wood can have an acceptable environmental impact. Especially if it's harvested nearby and not clocking up many road miles. Much of the firewood supply in our area comes from local coppiced black locust woodlands. Plus there's the psychological effect, it feels warmer and reduces the incidence of winter blues.

We will also have electric heating, along with the Instant Pot and the airfryer and a small hob (infrared not induction, hubby has a pacemaker!). I won't be installing a full-sized electric oven. I'm told electricity outages in smaller villages like ours close to the end of the line aren't uncommon, and don't want to be totally dependent on electricity.

@janemulberry

C'mon, Jane - you're a bonzer Ozzie sheila: you'll never be stuck without a means of cooking because you'll always have at least two barbies in the shed where the dunny is... 😂

I'm going to be installing Solar panels in the next couple of years, my dad have them, and he doesn't pay anything for his electricity. He is rarely at home, so doesn't use much. He only watches the news on TV in the evening. Switches the computer on in the morning and evening to check his emails.

There is some stupid rule in The UK, you are limited to having a maximum of 16 or 18 panels. He has the limit although he could have twice as much and a bit more for the out buildings. Doesn't make any sense.

Are solar panels popular in Bulgaria? They are popular in Austria or should say were the new government who are Climate change deniers, want to start taxing them and ending grants.

I've just realised that in 14 years of being of being in my property, I've not changed any of the lightbulbs. Because they are LED. I bought solar LED lights for the outside, which I highly recommend. They have certainly Improved from when they first came on the market.

They're quite popular in Bulgaria. A few forum members have mentioned having them. I only have a couple of 20 and 30 watt panels to charge small battery banks, but eventually once we move there I'd like to install a few larger panels. Certainly not a whole house system, but enough to maintain lights and charge devices if there's a few days with no power.

I don't think Bulgaria has the system some countries have of the electricity company buying surplus solar power from homeowners (I could be wrong on that!) so AFAIK, most home solar would be self-contained systems, not grid-linked.

@janemulberry C'mon, Jane - you're a bonzer Ozzie sheila: you'll never be stuck without a means of cooking because you'll always have at least two barbies in the shed where the dunny is... 😂 - @JimJ

LOL, you really should not have been allowed to read those Bazza McKenzie comics, a crime against 99% of Australians! No barbies yet, unless I count the crumbling old mud oven with a very rusty metal sheet top that I think the previous occupant probably used to roast her red peppers!

I do have one of those little butane canister gas rings in the kitchen in case the power goes out in the summer -- hubby freaks over not being able to make tea. And I'm thinking of getting one of these for outdoor use: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/dp/B09TFJ6L9D/ A barbie using the hot plate, but could also be used to boil water for water bath canning using a big stock pot on the cross-piece. It would use up some of the smaller diameter branches.

So yes, a proper bonza sheila!

@janemulberry

We have one of these in the summer kitchen, just in case we lose electricity at the wrong time:

https://topgasbg.com/product/dvoen-gazo … -2-01sncp/

I've never been to Oz (couldn't find any sheep to steal/didn't have £10 to blow when I was younger, and am too mean to pay for a ticket at today's prices) but we DO have four barbies (one running on gas), so I'm working on my faux-Cobber credentials... 😎

PS If you want a REAL "taste of home", I recommend this YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DrainCleaningAUSTRALIA 😁

As I retired early, I decided to record all expenditure to check that my money will last until I shuffle off this mortal coil.

I've looked at the period from when we moved to our village house May 2023.

We spend on average 208 lev per day == 6,344 lev per month.

A family of 3 with 2 cats, a 4x4 and a V8 Mustang.

I have excluded one off costs such as

Bore Hole - 2400 lev

Garden Tiller - 2200 lev

Solar System (16 panels, 2 batteries inverter) 12,600 lev (99% bits bought)

4x4 - 13,000 lev

Online Schooling IGCSEs and now AS/A Levels

- 4000 lev exams in Sofia

- £6280 - 2 years IGCSE - British Online School

- 3780 Euros Belgian Online School (one more year to go)

Green House 6x4m - 1525 lev

We visit Varna a few times a year using AirBnB.

Last year's exams were spread over a month, which required an AirBnB in Sofia, the same again this year for AS Levels and again in 2026 to finish the papers for the A Levels.

We shop weekly, at Billa, Lidl and Kaufland and seem to average 100 lev in each shop, each week.

We have as little processed food as possible and make all meals when at home, including bread.

We grew a lot of veg last year and are still eating canned tomatoes, pickles and jams. This year should have a quarter acre in production.

Electricity averages 125 lev per month

Water averages 30 lev per month

This winter's heating is from the Mayor's Woods, 10cubic metres was 836 lev inc delivery, we probably use 7.5cu each year.

We both pay our national insurance which is 447.84 each for the year.

Internet is 720 lev for 14 months (GoGo)

We have 3 Bg mobile unlimited sims at 18 lev/month

In addition to the above, we've spent (over the same period) £7.5k on our English cards, for AirBnB stays, UK mobile SIMs, home comforts and "difficult to buy here stuff" (we have friends in Manchester who box stuff up for us and send it to Sofia via the local BG shop).

Council tax was 26.77 lev last year.

Mustang Fully Comp Insurance was 1214 lev, the local council tax for it was 282.11 lev, civil liability ins 386.40

and one speeding ticket for 280 lev, MoT 90 lev

Plus 15 mpg when driving slow

The 4x4 slightly cheaper Civil Liability Ins and Local Council Tax (310 & 152.7 lev), no speeding tickets.

I've set £5k aside, for a dingy trip to the UK, should I run out of cash.

I've set £5k aside, for a dingy trip to the UK, should I run out of cash. - @Erm1ntrude

We're not France... you'll be bobbing around the Black Sea for ever. :-)

@gwynj

We can go together 😁

@JimJ

Like us, It sounds like electricity and cats are a fair chunk of your monthly expenditure. Our cats are indoors too, (although two love staying out on our lounge balcony, protected by netting, so they don't fall) I hadn't thought of using wood pellets;  at present were using the 10kg bags of bentonite at 13 Leva each, from the local pet shop.  I will give pellets a go.

Like you, we have felt the increases in utilities, but as you say, electricity is still certainly reasonable, from an expat's point of view, especially when you see how they're suffering in the UK, with the highest prices in the world and it's great that we don't need gas. As for water, it's a bit of a lottery of where you live, as to what you  get charged;  I know Varna is expensive for water, as they're trying to recoup a lot of the costs of massive under ground pipe reconstructions, for both sewerage and fresh water supply.  We've had significant numbers of days without water in the last year, due to works, but at least we can say we have good water pressure now, albeit, the more pressure, the more water used.

I have to keep reminding myself what the monthly cost would be, to live back in London and the UK - I couldn't afford to buy anything in London and my rent for a bedsit in 2020, was £650 pcm plus electricity at £80 per month. I broke even at £2,000, which was also my monthly income.

@janemulberry

Yes, Dobrich is significantly a lower cost of living compared to Varna.  Indeed, It will be interesting to see what your bills will be, when you live here permanently.  We are staying put in Varna for another 5 years or so, as the kids go to school here and we don't want to upset their curriculum. However, my wife and I are considering maybe moving after that and Dobrich area is something we're considering.  During 2021, we visited Dobrich as my wife's job took us there and we found the fruit and veg market there to be incredibly low cost, especially in the summer months, compared to Varna.  My only gripe is, I would miss the sea, although it's an easy run to Balchik.

@JimJ. Living in an apartment block, we can't have a petchka, but I'm very familiar with them, as had three in my house, when I lived in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire.  That said, some of the old panel blocks, here in Varna, have petchkas and it's not uncommon to see petchkas smoke rising from the roof tops!

I agree, though, electricity is the better value option at the current time.

@janemulberry

Yes, that's certainly a consideration in many villages, electricity and water can be erratic and be off for days. 

@JimJ

That looks a nice bit of kit, at a reasonable price.  Does it just sit on a worktop, or is it permanently seated in a worktop?  Presumably, there's a hose to a gas bottle underneath somewhere?

@cyberescue1

It sits on top of a worktop, table or whatever - with a standard hose connection to a bottle. It's easily portable, so can be used outside as well; it has a flip support on top, and can take a wok. Very useful for those annoying power outages..

You'll probably find them on sale locally as well.

I wouldn't mind having something like that gas burner. My neighbour uses bottled gas for her cooking. But our problem would be refilling the gas bottle.

We won't have a car, and the village petrol station that used to refill the gas bottles has shut down. I don't fancy lugging a gas bottle on the bus to get it refilled in town. Our neighbour would happily take me to town when she goes to get hers refilled, but I don't want to set up systems that are dependent on that in case she moves away. I suspect that when her husband passes away she won't want to manage the big garden on her own and she'll move into their apartment in Dobrich, currently occupied by their daughter.

The little butane bottles for the camping stove cost surprisingly more in Bg than in the UK (as did the stove!), but can easily be carried home on the bus. This is the type I bought: https://homeland.bg/prenosim-gazov-kotlon-html  Mum, back in Australia, always used one of this type of gas burner when she did a stirfry -- the electric hob wouldn't take a wok and didn't get hot enough for a good stirfry!

@janemulberry

Maybe you could have it delivered?

@janemulberry

You can certainly get the gas bottles delivered all over the country.  Refilling them at the local petrol/LPG station is a bit of a grey area; I believe that those "filling stations" are irregular, to put it mildly, but the law is a rather elastic concept here.  Just what the safety implications are, I have no idea.  I suspect that it's no cheaper getting the same bottle refilled as opposed to simply getting one that's been refilled officially; once you've paid the deposit on your first bottle, you only pay for the gas as you've returned the empty one, and so on.

@JimJ. Living in an apartment block, we can't have a petchka, but I'm very familiar with them, as had three in my house, when I lived in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. That said, some of the old panel blocks, here in Varna, have petchkas and it's not uncommon to see petchkas smoke rising from the roof tops!
I agree, though, electricity is the better value option at the current time. - @cyberescue1

Yes, you certainly can have a petchka in an apartment 😁.  One of our apartments was in a newly-built "closed complex" and every one of the c500 apartments there had a fancy petchka installed when the blocks were built; the apartments in the complex next door all had open fireplaces. We took ours with us when we sold it (and bought another from a neighbour) - we have one in our village house and the other in our house here in Sofia. The problem is where to store (and cut) enough wood, even though apartments do tend to be better insulated than many houses, and of course - unless you have one in the corner of a building, you get to "steal" heat and additional insulation from the neighbours around/above/below you.

I'll need to investigate gas delivery. Because the bigger double burner one would be good for the summer kitchen (that doesn't exist yet!) for sure.

@janemulberry

Not sure you would even be allowed it on the bus anyway.

@JimJ

Normally, they don't refill at the petrol station, but just exchange empty bottles with full ones. That's my experience with them anyway.

@JimJ
Normally, they don't refill at the petrol station, but just exchange empty bottles with full ones. That's my experience with them anyway. - @SimCityAT

I think the rules are that the empties are swapped for full ones. But I think like many EU rules, it may get bent from time to time in Bulgaria. I might be mistaken, butI am sure the guy at the garage refilled the gas bottle rather than swapping it.

@JimJ

Unfortunately, our block wasn't built to accommodate them, what we thought might be a cover for the flu/chimney attachment, turned out merely to be an inspection hole.  However, I suppose we could buy an electric simulated petchka - not really the same though.

I remember when we rented, back in 2021, some of the apartments in that block had petchkas...   The guy downstairs had food pellets delivered, usually ten sacks, stacked outside his door - we had a lift in that block.

As you say, storage of logs is a problem, living in an apartment.

@JimJ
Normally, they don't refill at the petrol station, but just exchange empty bottles with full ones. That's my experience with them anyway.  - @SimCityAT
I think the rules are that the empties are swapped for full ones. But I think like many EU rules, it may get bent from time to time in Bulgaria. I might be mistaken, butI am sure the guy at the garage refilled the gas bottle rather than swapping it.
- @janemulberry

Yeah, some of the more "relaxed" petrol station owners/operators just ignore the rules, as in so many other areas of Balkan life; then every so often there's some disaster and butts are kicked (and jail sentences dished out to those at the bottom of the food chain).

@JimJ
Unfortunately, our block wasn't built to accommodate them, what we thought might be a cover for the flu/chimney attachment, turned out merely to be an inspection hole. However, I suppose we could buy an electric simulated petchka - not really the same though.
I remember when we rented, back in 2021, some of the apartments in that block had petchkas... The guy downstairs had food pellets delivered, usually ten sacks, stacked outside his door - we had a lift in that block.
As you say, storage of logs is a problem, living in an apartment. - @cyberescue1

Are you sure it's just an inspection hole?  The connection in our apartment looked rather like that but actually WAS in fact where the petchka connected to the communal chimney.

I'd like to add a litle sumptin regarding elec costs. We just got slammed with a 660lev bill for Dec/Jan (we had apt shut off all Jan marked at .50/kwh), PLUS they are back charging us another 293lev for November (she's marking it at .26/kwh)! WTF! Are we getting scammed by our property mgr? She says it's because they raised the rates. I can see the rate change as of 1/1/25. Quite disturbed and a tad angry with this. We only have a 53sqm apt.

@RexTechGuy

Who's "they" who raised the rates?  The utility company only charges for usage at the rate applicable at the time, not retrospectively.  Have you asked her to spell out exactly what the situation is?

I'd like to add a litle sumptin regarding elec costs. We just got slammed with a 660lev bill for Dec/Jan (we had apt shut off all Jan marked at .50/kwh), PLUS they are back charging us another 293lev for November (she's marking it at .26/kwh)! WTF! Are we getting scammed by our property mgr? She says it's because they raised the rates. I can see the rate change as of 1/1/25. Quite disturbed and a tad angry with this. We only have a 53sqm apt. - @RexTechGuy

Maybe start from the beginning, calm down don't rant, break everything down.

We paid .37/kwh in Nov. Now our mgr (who reads our meter and lets us know our bill), is now saying we need to pay an extra .26/kwh as the Nov rate was .63. For dec/jan, she states it is .50/kwh. We are not on the residential rates as of yet as they are really dragging their feet in getting our complex switched over. She doesn't speak much English so it was tough getting an exact translation. Wife was speaking with her in Russian.