Brussels, 22/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - On 19 June, the European Commission announced that it is inviting comments from interested parties on commitments offered by the State-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD (BEH) to address competition concerns about BEH's behaviour on the non-regulated wholesale electricity market in Bulgaria.
The Commission has expressed concerns that BEH may be hindering the resale of electricity by imposing territorial restrictions on traders, in breach of EU antitrust rules. To alleviate the Commission's concerns, BEH has offered to: - set up a power exchange in Bulgaria, with the assistance of an independent third party with expertise in the operation of power exchanges; - offer predetermined volumes of electricity on the day-ahead market on the new exchange for a period of five years; - ensure the independence of the power exchange by transferring its control to the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance. If the consultation confirms that the commitments are suitable to address the Commission's competition concerns, the Commission may make the commitments legally binding on BEH.
The Commission started investigating BEH in December 2012 and sent the company a statement of objections in August 2014. (Elodie Lamer)