Bulgaria will have to save over 7472 gigawatt-hours of electricity by 2016 according to EU new directives on energy efficiency.

The country will have to submit to the European Committee (EC) a new three-year plan for the country's policy in the sphere of energy efficiency, head of the Energy Efficiency Agency Tasko Ermenkov said as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Energy efficiency measures in the country have decreased consumption twice in the past 10 years. The return on the so called energy effective investment is normally five years, Ermenkov said.

Investment inrterest in the sphere is focused on the establishment of small hydro-electric power plants and wind generators, energy specialists said.

Small generators with several kilowatt capacity using hydrigon and gas for combined production of heat and electricity are expected to appear soon in the country.