Bulgaria's Ministers Approve New Energy Watchdog Head

Svetla Todorova is the new head of the Bulgarian energy regulator DKEVR, the Council of Ministers has announced after its Wednesday session.

Todorova is a former State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) member and reports suggested she was tipped for the office.

Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva has described her as a consultant at the EU Commission on a number of projects involving the proper functioning of watchdog institutions.

"In other words, [Todorova] has uniquely rich experience in how a regulator should work [and] how it should set prices."

While naming Todorova, Zaharieva also addressed some long-standing problems of Bulgaria's energy sector which the new watchdog will be facing.

According to the Bulgarian National Radio, she reminded that state-owned National Electric Company (NEK) could accumulate up to BGN 900 M of losses in the next three months.

Evgeniya Haritonova and Kostadinka Todorova are due to take over from the previous from Elenko Bozhkov and Liliya Mladenova.

Mladenova resigned last week alongside DKEVR's former head Boyan Boev. Both decided to step down after meeting Economy and Energy Minister Vasil Shtonov.

The caretaker government has also decided to dismiss Elenko Bozhkov due to a conflict of interest, even though he resisted ministerial calls to resign.

Boev has recently come under fire from members of Bulgaria's caretaker government as well for allegedly being in a conflict of interest.

He presided over the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) in December last year, at the time when important agreements were signed on the South Stream project, prior to heading DKEVR.

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