All six members of Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR) have resigned last week, according to the press center of the watchdog.

The DKEVR members filed their resignations a few days after the newly appointed Chair of the watchdog, Yuliana Ivanova, resigned over findings that she had been running an online store selling cigarettes illegally.

However, the fact that the six members of Bulgaria's energy watchdog had also filed resignations had not been announced officially yet.

The DKEVR members said Monday that they had not received an official response from the government if the resignations of the entire panel of the Commission had been accepted.

The six members of the watchdog will keep the posts until their resignations are approved by the government, dnevnik.bg informs.

On February 22, DKEVR refuted claims of outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov that electricity prices could drop by 8% from March 1, saying that the price drop could not take effect before April 1.

The high electricity bills have triggered series of ongoing nationwide protests in Bulgaria, which led to the collective resignation of the center-right GERB government last week.

Disgruntled Bulgarians have called for a range of steps, ranging from the withdrawal of the license of power distributor CEZ, to the nationalization of all three power distribution firms operating in the country.

CEZ controls companies that supply electricity to western Bulgaria, including the capital of Sofia.

Last week DKEVR opened a procedure for withdrawing the license of CEZ, and the company's two units, CEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD and CEZ Electro Bulgaria AD, informed Monday that they had received the decisions announcing the opening of such proceedings, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

CEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria AD has a license for power distribution and CEZ Electro Bulgaria AD for public supply of electricity.

The two companies are to state their position on the opening of a procedure for license withdrawal within 7 days.

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