SOFIA (Bulgaria), December 1 (SeeNews) – Bulgaria's energy regulator has requested that the state-owned National Electricity Company, NEK, open talks to renegotiate the terms of the long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) it has signed with US companies AES and ContourGlobal, which own two thermal power plants (TPPs) in the country.
In view of the new circumstances that have occurred, the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) has decided to cancel its decision dated May 27 and to request from NEK to open talks with AES and ContourGlobal on revising the terms of the PPAs signed in 2001, the regulator said in a statement published on its website.
In May the regulator decided that the PPAs signed between NEK and the two U.S. companies should be amended so as to provide for a 30% cut in the price of electricity produced by Maritsa Iztok 1, owned by AES, and a cut of 20% for electricity produced by Maritsa Iztok 3, owned by ControurGlobal. The regulator also required part of the output of the two TPPs to be sold on the free market in Bulgaria.
Both AES and ContourGlobal have appealed the regulator's decision taken in May.
The two TPPs claim that the terms requested by the regulator make it impossible for them to meet their obligations to creditors and suppliers.
ContourGlobal acquired a majority stake in the Maritsa Iztok 3 TPP from Italy's Enel in June 2011. AES launched the Maritza Iztok 1 power plant in 2011.
The power plants are part of the country's largest energy complex Maritsa Iztok, located in the southeastern region of Stara Zagora. The complex hosts lignite coal mines and three coal-fired power plants.
NEK is part of state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)