site.btaState Saves Nearly 300 Million Leva Thanks to Amended Contracts with Two US-owned Power Plants in Bulgaria

State Saves Nearly 300 Million Leva Thanks to Amended Contracts with Two US-owned Power Plants in Bulgaria

Sofia, July 15 (BTA) - The State saves about 300 million leva from the amended contracts with the two US-owned thermo-electric power plants in Bulgaria, AES Maritsa East 1 and ContourGlobal Maritsa East 3, Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova said during Question Time in Parliament Friday.

Following the repayment of the outstanding debts of the National Electricity Company (NEC) to the two plants in April, they agreed to lower with immediate effect the capacity price that they charge NEC: by 14 per cent for AES and 15 per cent for ContourGlobal.

Petkova was asked about the amount of the interest due on a syndicated loan of 535 million euro that NEC had to take out to pay up to the two power plants until it issue bonds.

The precise interest rate of the loan is a trade secret but its average size is 3.8 per cent. The penalty interest is about one percent above the base interest rate, Petkova said.

She said that the effect from the amended contracts exceeds 96 million leva per year, or nearly 1,000 million leva until the expiry of the long-term agreements with the plants.

"With the entry into force of the amended contracts, Bulgaria saves more than 96 million leva annually while it will pay about 58 million leva for the loan and the bond issue, meaning that the net saved amount will be 40 million leva per year, or a total of 300 million leva. If instead of amending the contracts they were dissolved, Bulgaria would have to pay about 3,000 million leva indemnity to the owners, along with other obligations laid down in the agreements," Petkova said.