The PSUs spent the money instead of reducing the price of electricity –

/ world today news/ Between 2008 and 2012, CEZ, EVN and “Energo-Pro” diverted a total of BGN 818 million.

This is shown by the results of the audit that the State Environmental Protection Agency conducted on the three companies, it became clear from the words of the chairman of the regulator Boyan Boev. He explained that the amount was used to increase administrative and other expenses, instead of being recorded as a profit and being distributed as a dividend to shareholders, including the state, and at the same time being paid a larger corporate tax. The BGN 818 million in question appeared mainly in two directions. On the one hand, the companies have achieved more revenues than those approved by the SEWRC. For the 5 years in question, CEZ, EVN and “Energo-Pro” received a total of BGN 220 million more than what was approved. At the same time, the companies had lower technological losses than those approved by the regulator, which reduced their costs and thus a total of BGN 405 million was saved from the ERPs. However, instead of adding them to their profit, they redirected them as expenses for consultants, managers, external services, etc., said Boev. According to him, in addition to shareholders and the state budget, consumers were also harmed, because this saved money could have affected the price of electricity. The violations identified by the audit are a total of 2,690. For each DKEVR, it will draw up an act that can be appealed by the EPR. If there are no suspicions of an error after that, the regulator will impose a fine. It can be between BGN 20,000 and BGN 1 million for each violation, Boev explained. Later, he handed over the data from the audits to DANS, NRA, ADFI and Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski.
Every act that is issued by the CEVR will be appealed in court, it became clear from the words of the head of EVN, Jörg Zollfelner. He commented that the results of the audit were manipulative, taken out of context and clearly ordered to do so. Zollfelner specified that the difference between recognized and reported expenses by the State Environmental Protection Agency is the difference between the requested but not approved and the actual expenses. “For 2009, 117 million BGN were needed for operating expenses, the regulator recognizes 72 million, but EVN invests 117 million,” said Zollfelner. According to CEZ, the detected violations are remediable, made under the pressure of the reduced electricity prices, which limits the financial resources in the ERP, which works entirely according to native and European laws.