November 30 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's utilities regulator said that it has found six local companies, including the National Electricity Company (NEK), in breach of EU market regulations applicable to the local wholesale power market and has therefore imposed an aggregate fine of 1.258 million levs ($667,808/644,227 euro) on them.
The remaining companies are Interprom, Energy MT, Most Energy, Grand Energy Distribution and Interelectric, the Electricity and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The largest fine, of 625,097 levs, was imposed on NEK. All penalties refer to market transactions which were carried out in the first half of 2019 and represented market manipulation.
The penalties were imposed under the EU regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT), EWRC noted.
REMIT, which entered into force in 2011, provides a mechanism to evaluate and penalise insider trading and market manipulation in wholesale energy markets in EU member states. Under this regulation, all wholesale gas or electricity traders in European markets have been obliged since 2015 to report information on their trading activities to the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER).
In a separate statement, NEK stressed that the fine refers to activities performed in the first six months of 2019 and that the company has fully cooperated with EWRC's investigation.
The decision can be appealed within 14 days at the Sofia Administrative Court.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania EAD is among the biggest companies in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here