The total revenues of the Bulgarian electricity company NEK in the first nine months of this year reached 3.9 billion leva (about 2 billion euros), and debts were reduced from 4 to 2.9 billion leva (from 2 to 1.5 billion euros), according to the financial report of NEK. This happened after the company returned a loan of about 500 million euros to the state.
At the same time, NEK recorded a profit of BGN 822 million (EUR 420 million), compared to BGN 278.2 million (EUR 142 million) in the period January – September of last year, in the conditions of a drop in production in hydroelectric power plants and the shutdown of the Chaira reversible hydroelectric power plant.
It is expected that the profit will continue to grow until the end of the year and it is possible that it will exceed half a billion euros.
Due to the drought, but also in order to save water resources, NEK’s production was reduced by 29.4% on an annual basis, to 2.032 million MWh.
Given that HPPs actively participate in the balance market, the company’s management tried to use water resources as efficiently as possible.
The more modest production also affected NEK’s participation in the free market, where 26.7% less electricity was sold compared to the first nine months of last year.
The business of NEK was adversely affected by the higher demands of the final suppliers – Elektrohold, EVN and Energo-pro, due to the cold wave at the beginning of the year, but also the delivery of additional quantities to the regulated market in accordance with long-term contracts. This also affected lower sales on the stock market.
NEK, as a backup supplier, sold 157,452 MWh of electricity to companies in the first nine months of 2022, compared to only 58,518 MWh in the same period last year. The reason for this is that some small companies have not yet concluded a contract with traders on the free market and had to buy electricity from a backup supplier, at higher prices.
Source: capital.bg
