November 3 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian thermal power plant (TPP) Maritsa 3 [BUL:MR3] said that it turned to a standalone net profit of 975,000 levs ($577,800/498,500 euro) in the first nine months of 2021 from a net loss of 79,000 levs in the same period of last year.
The power plant operator lowered its expenses to 12.2 million levs in the first nine months of this year from 19.8 million levs in the comparable period of 2020, mostly due to lower expenses for salaries, it said in an interim financial statement last week.
TPP Maritsa 3 revenue decreased to 13.2 million levs in the review period from nearly 19.8 million levs the year before.
Last year, the company said it will lay off part of its employees due to the country's new rules for providing cold reserve services. Before the implementation of the new rules, the bulk of Maritsa 3 TPP's revenues came from contracts with the government for providing cold reserve capacity for electricity supplies. In July 2020, former energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova said that the government will rely on cold reserve capacity, if needed, only from state-owned coal-fired TPP Maritsa East 2.
The 120 MW TPP Maritsa 3 is located in the town of Dimitrovgrad, in southern Bulgaria.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)