Bulgaria's State Electric Co Faces Fines for Resort Blackouts

The DKEVR Head, Angel Semerdzhiev, says the Regulator will impose sanctions on NEK over the Black Sea power outages. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s National Electric Company (NEK) will be sanctioned for the power outages that left towns and resorts on the southern Black Sea cost in the dark, the Head of the country’s energy watchdog, Angel Semerdzhiev, says.

Last week, Semerdzhiev, who leads the State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), announced the Austrian-owned power utility EVN will be fined for the blackouts ruining the vacation of scores of holidaymakers by stranding them without electricity, air-conditioning and hot water for hours and sometimes days.

DKEVR had started gathering information about the reasons behind the failures in the NEK and EVN network and in the beginning of September will issue an official statement on the sanctions and the measures that would be required from the two companies.

Probes until now revealed that NEK had carried out some of its investment program, but only formally while the said program had been altered several times and its feasibility is questionable.

According to Semerdzhiev, the issues NEK and EVN are facing are clear, however, there is a tossing around of responsibilities and bad communication.

The DKEVR Head further pointed out the sanctions would be in accordance with the Energy Act, but declined to give a precise amount. The law provides for anywhere between BGN 20 000 and BGN 1 M depending on the violation.

At the end of July, Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov, informed police and the State Agency for National Security (DANS) are to probe the power outage. He explained the reason for the major failure of one of the electric posts is the breakage of a conductor while the second, smaller damage, has been caused by a theft attempt.

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