Electricity Consumption in Bulgaria Up 2.5% in 2015 Consumption of electricity increased in 2015, reversing a downward trend observed in the past four years, an official with Bulgaria's Electricity System Operator (ESO) has said. The Central Dispatching Unit of ESO is the unit coordinating regimes of the electricity system and providing for its smooth and efficient functioning, also in charge of organizing the electricity market. Electricity consumption rose by 2.5% to 37.813 B kWh in 2015, with reasons for the increase yet to be analyzed, Mityu Hristozov, who heads the unit, has told the Bulgarian National Radio. Hristozov has explained that, with household consumption not traditionally varying on an annual basis (except in cases of abrupt change in average annual temperatures), the grown might have been driven either by industrial consumption or by services companies. Electricity exports grew by 10% to 10.538 kWh, the two main destinations being Turkey and Greece. Domestic production of electricity for consumption or exports grew 3.9%, with hydropower plants marking an all-time high by generating 22% more than in 2014 and having a share of 14-15% in national electricity production. Two thermal-power plants, AES Maritsa East-1 and ContourGlobal Maritza East-3 have also increased their electricity production by 11.5% compared to 2014. The Kozloduy nuclear plant has registered a drop of 3.1% due to the extended overhaul period for Unit 6. Windfarms and solar plants have marked an increase in production measured at 8.7% and 11.5%, respectively. State-owned heating utilities' production dropped by 18%, putting some burden off the central budget, Hristozov has explained.
Source: investor.bg (06.01.2016)

Electricity exports dived by 40 per cent between January 1 and 10, 2016 compared to the same period of 2015, "Troud" reports, citing information of the Electricity System Operator. Electricity production in Bulgaria declined as well, but by as little as 7.56 per cent. Consumption edged down by a mere 0.46 per cent. Green electricity generating capacities linked to the electricity suppliers decreased their output by 32.34 per cent, and those linked to the National Electric Company (NEK) by 20.45 per cent. In the first ten days of the year, hydroelectric power plants produced 51.47 per cent less electricity. The nuclear power plant and the TPPs are the only ones whose production increased in comparison to 2015.
Source: Monitor (18.01.2016)

Bulgarian electricty company NEK cuts loss to EUR 112.6 mln in 2015 Bulgaria's state-owned National Electricity Company, NEK, cut its loss by more than BGN 350 million to BGN 220 million in 2015, the country's energy minister said. Furthermore, the electric company for the first time turns to profit from its regulatory operations, energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova told the Government Meets the Business conference in Sofia, organised by business news publisher Capital on Tuesday. In August, US companies AES and ContourGlobal signed agreements with NEK on a decrease in the prices at which it buys electricity produced by the two companies' thermal power plants. For its part, NEK pledged to pay back its overdue liabilities to the two plants. Also in August, energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova said that NEK owes the two plants around BGN 900 million in total. In November, BEH sent to 25 international banks letters inviting them to provide it with a EUR 650 million loan. NEK is a 100%-subsidiary of state-operated Bulgarian Energy Holding.
Source: Monitor (20.01.2016)

Siemens Bulgaria will implement a project on energy management in Mondi Stamboliyski Siemens Bulgaria signed a contract to implement a new project at Mondi Stamboliyski EAD. It will be implemented by direction Energy management of the company as it will use innovative technologies that meet the latest world standards in the process of work. The project will be "turnkey" and includes design, supply and commissioning of high and medium voltage equipment, supply of power cables for high, medium and low voltage and automation system covering newly established network. Its performance is related to the construction of a link to a 110kV high voltage network of Electricity System Operator EAD, main substation 110/6kV and local stations for medium voltage.
Source: Construction City (10.03.2016)

VMZ Sopot paid debts worth BGN12.5 million VMZ Sopot paid old debts worth nearly BGN 12.5 million. This happened after the decision of the Board of Directors. Funds have been transferred for priority repayment to creditors of the company on March 28. The whole principal on the audit reports of the National Revenue Agency, accumulated over nearly 15 years, has been repaid. Debts of the armory for local taxes to the municipality of Sopot have been repaid in full. Payments on the agreements for repayment to the Electricity System Operator and the Regional Police Directorate in Plovdiv have also been made. "These payments stop generation of large penalties. The obligations of VMZ dramatically declined as we continue to work and keep our plan for repayment. In parallel, work of the management on the investment program continues - investment in machinery, equipment and technological innovation," said CEO of VMZ Eng. Ivan Getsov.
Source: Monitor (29.03.2016)

Miners want a new price of coal Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD - Radnevo wants a new price of mined coal higher by about BGN 9 per ton oil equivalent. The management of the state company has developed a new business programs for the next three years, which provides a yield of 27.35 million tons. This will allow them to catch up in the stripping and to implement the program for modernization and rehabilitation of heavy equipment. The program was returned by the Ministry of Energy for additional details. In recent years, opening of new stripping lags off dramatically behind the extraction. The reason is the loading of the two US power plants by ESO, admitted the president of CITUB Plamen Dimitrov. He expects the agreement between BEH and the bank consortium to be signed, which would bring a loan of BGN 1 billion. BGN 900 million will settle the debts to the two US plants, which in turn will finally pay back the mines.
Source: Monitor (18.04.2016)

Bulgarian Energy Holding swings to BGN 29.5 mln cons net profit in 2015 Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), which pools all state-owned energy assets, turned to a consolidated net profit of BGN 29.5 million in 2015 from a loss of BGN 277.4 million in 2014. Among BEH's nine subsidiaries, gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz recorded the highest profit of BGN 93.2 million, up 23.1% from 2014, followed by nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy with BGN 82.4 million, up 6.1%. The slight improvement in Kozloduy's results came on the back of an increase of its output for the non-regulated market, energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova told a news conference. The net profit of the Electricity System Operator (ESO) more than tripled to a record high of BGN 63.1 million in 2015 from 19.6 million levs in 2014 mainly due to a 10% cut in administrative expenses, which contributed BGN 42 million to the company's profit. Monopoly gas supplier Bulgargaz managed to quadruple its profit to BGN 20.4 million in 2015. Troubled NEK, which acts as a link between electricity producers and distributors, slashed its net loss by 66.5% to BGN 196.7 million in 2015. It recorded a profit of BGN 39 million for the first quarter of 2016. On the negative side, the net loss of thermal power plant Maritsa Iztok 2 more than doubled to BGN 72 million in 2015 from BGN 35 million in 2014, as costs rose faster than revenues. The profit of coal miner Mini Maritsa Iztok dropped 39.4% to 2.6 million levs despite a record high output of 32 million tonnes of coal in 2015. The Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX), which launched operations in January 2016, accumulated a loss of BGN 214,000 in 2015, but recovered to a net profit of BGN 600,000 in the first quarter of 2016.
Source: Monitor (26.04.2016)

Bulgaria's NPP Kozloduy Q1 pre-tax profit drops 42% y/y Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy posted a 42% annual drop in its first quarter pre-tax profit to BGN 36.8 million. The company's total revenues edged down by an annual 2.4% to BGN 222.6 million through March, with 98% of them stemming from electricity sales, it said in its quarterly financial report earlier this week. At the same time, total costs rose 13% to BGN 185 million. The nuclear plant's gross electricity output fell 0.8% to 4.4 million MWh in the first quarter, mainly due to warmer weather. It sold a total of 4.18 million MWh, also down 0.8% year-on-year. In the first quarter, NPP Kozloduy sold a total of 174,847 MWh worth BGN 9 million on the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX), which was launched in January. Kozloduy NPP's investments in the period under review totalled 14.3 million levs. In January NPP Kozloduy said it contracted a consortium comprising a unit of Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom and local company Risk Engineering to conduct works on extending the life of the plant's 1,000 MW Unit 6. Kozloduy's Units 5 and 6 generate more than 33% of Bulgaria's total power output.
Source: investor.bg (05.05.2016)

power holders are adding new legislative texts which will limit the expenditures in the energy sector. GERB will propose an amendment, according to which two power plants - the Vidahim TPP and the Svishtov TPP - will stop receiving high prices for their energy. The effect will be 50 million leva of savings a year, or 1.50 leva per MWh, show calculations of energy experts from GERB. Parliament will pass the revisions very quickly - they will be debated directly on second reading together with other changes in the Energy Act. The revisions will not affect the heating companies, whose main owner is businessman Hristo Kovachki, the daily comments.
Source: Capital (02.06.2016)

National Assembly decided two more state companies to pay into the NEK fund Electricity System Operator (ESO) and Bulgartransgas will pay 5% of their revenue to the fund for saving NEK after MPs adopted the amendments to the Energy Act. In ESO, which owns the high-voltage network, these deductions will be made from the company's revenue for network access and revenue from electricity transfer on it. Bulgartransgas, which owns the gas transmission network in the country, will pay 5% of its revenue from access and transmission, but only in the gas network. 5% fee is introduced on revenue of Chiren facility for storage of natural gas. It's also owned by Bulgartransgaz. According to lawmakers, additional revenue to the fund "Security of electricity system" will be BGN 30 mln per year, BGN 17 mln from ESO and the remaining BGN 13 mln - from Bulgartransgas.
Source: Monitor (09.06.2016)

EU to grant Bulgaria 15 mln euro for internal electricity interconnection The European Commission said on Friday it has allocated a BGN 29.8 million grant under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding programme to Bulgarian System Operator (ESO) for the construction of internal electricity interconnection in the country. The planned project will include the construction of a new 400 kV line between Dobrudja and Burgas regions in the northeastern and southeastern part of the country, the European Commission said in a notice on its website. The electricity line will have a length of 100 km. The projects are part of the 10-year plan for development of the electricity network of Bulgaria and the plan for the development of the electricity system of the European electricity transmission network operators ENTSO-E.
Source: investor.bg (18.07.2016)

Bulgaria's NPP Kozloduy net profit plummets in H1 Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy said its first-half net profit fell sharply to BGN 236,000 from BGN 69.9 million in the same period last year due to lower revenues and higher costs. The company's operating revenue dropped by an annual 7% to 396 million levs in January-June, with 98% of it stemming from electricity sales, its interim financial report, posted on the finance ministry's website, showed. At the same time, operating costs rose 13% to 394 million levs. The nuclear plant's gross electricity output edged up 0.14% to 7.89 million MWh in the review period. It sold a total of 7.48 million MWh, generating a revenue of 387 million levs, down 6.5% year-on-year. Kozloduy sold 277,189 MWh worth 15 million levs on the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX), which was launched in January. Kozloduy NPP's investments in the period under review totalled 35 million levs.
Source: investor.bg (04.08.2016)

The energy system operator with a profit of BGN 42 million for the first annual half The Electricity System Operator, which owns the entire electrical grid in the country continued to report good results. By mid-year the state-owned company earned BGN 41.8 million, which is one of the best performances in Bulgarian Energy Holding’s group of companies. Only Bulgargaz and Bulgartransgas report better profits for the first half - respectively BGN 48.9 and 43.5 million. At the same time, revenue from sales marked a marginal increase of BGN 5.2 million, reaching BGN 287.7 million. In addition the company's revenues for acquisition of tangible fixed assets also increased by BGN 3.380 million from the Fund Kozloduy. The energy price which ESO collects for access and transmission, has fallen by 13.15%. This trend began in the middle of last year, which led to a decrease in electricity prices in Europe by 15-20%.
Source: Capital (26.08.2016)

Four Bulgarian pension funds invested BGN 22 million with SOFIX-based exchange-traded fund Expat Bulgaria. The investment in Expat Bulgaria ETF was made by pension funds Doverie, Allianz Bulgaria, NN and DSK Rodina. The fund's growth will allow Expat Asset Management to continue with its plan to stir the Bulgarian capital market by launching a procedure for cross-listing of the fund's units on a large foreign market. This will ensure the access of foreign investors from all over the world to the fund, which will further increase its size. Expat Asset Management is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Expat Capital, which is managing private investment accounts and three mutual funds – Expat Emerging Markets Stocks, Expat Global Equities, and Expat Bonds.
Source: Capital (09.11.2016)

Energy companies do not fulfill investment programs, a report of the energy regulator to the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission’s commission control showed. At the end of September, ESO has accomplished around 56-57% of the actions that had been planned in the investment program for this year. For EVN the percentage is less than 60, and for Energy - Pro it is 60-61 %. CEZ Bulgaria has fulfilled less than 30% of the plan. The reason is delayed loan from the EBRD. The money were provided for the purchase of equipment.
Source: Sega (16.12.2016)

By the end of October 2016 the Security Fund of the electricity system raised BGN 264.1 million. Expenses amounted to BGN 198.5 million. The fund was established with legislative changes in July 2015. Producers and traders of electricity, including Bulgartransgas and Electricity System Operator, import 5% of their operating revenue. The fund includes revenues from trading of carbon emissions. The collected funds are used to cover the costs made by the National Electricity Company in its capacity of a public supplier. At the beginning of the month TPP Maritsa Iztok 2 reported that for the first nine months of the year it has payed BGN 33 million to the Fund. Expectations are that by the end of the year the contribution will rise to BGN 44 million. The plant asked for a loan from the Bulgarian Energy Holding to pay its obligations, including to the Fund for the security of the power system.
Source: Duma (21.12.2016)

Enemona Utilities is declared bankrupt. The decision of the Sofia City Court is of December 16, 2016. The Court ordered the cashing of the company’s assets included in the bankruptcy estate, and the distribution of liquidated property. Enemona Utilities is a major subsidiary of Enemona. Back in December 2015 private bailiff proposed for auction the central building of the company. Enemona Utilities traded with electricity, being a major player on the market. Larger recognized creditors of Enemona Utilities are Unicredit Bulbank with BGN 13.8 million, Investbank with BGN 10 million, NEC with BGN 4.3 million, Maritsa East 2 TPP with BGN 1.94 million, ING Bank NV with BGN 5.63 million, Electricity System Operator with BGN 939 thousand, Energy Supply Ltd with BGN 2.35 million, NRA with BGN 1.37 million and others.
Source: investor.bg (22.12.2016)