Bulgaria’s energy regulator KEVR said on Wednesday that it hasn’t discussed capping prices of electricity purchased by state-owned National Electricity Company NEK from two local thermal power plants owned by U.S. investors.

"We fully comply with the provisions laid down in the Energy Act," KEVR Chairman Ivan Ivanov told reporters, according to investor.bg.

Ivanov also said that he will be meeting representatives of the four nationally-represented employers' organizations later on Wednesday.

The four organizations urged the government on Tuesday to suspend payments above market prices for electricity produced by AES Galabovo and ContourGlobal Maritza East 3 coal-fired power plants owned by U.S-based AES and ContourGlobal, respectively.

At a meeting with the  European Commission Representation in Bulgaria on Tuesday the employers suggested that the government capped the prices of electricity from the two power plants at market levels until the Commission decided on whether NEK purchases above those levels constitute illegal state aid. 

Ivanov said that the European Commission is the only body which can decide whether NEK’s purchases of electricity produced by AES Galabovo and ContourGlobal Maritza East 3 at the current prices constitutes illegal state aid. He also said that any potential change in the long-term power purchase agreements with the two plants will be adequately reflected in KEVR’s decisions.

Meanwhile, AES and ContourGlobal  have declared that they were leaving the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG), one of the four nationally-represented employers' organizations, according to Bulgarian media reports.

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