The Bulgarian Photovoltaic Association (BPVA) has called for an independent audit by an international authority of the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and its subsidiaries, the National Electric Company (NEK) and the Electricity System Operator (ESO).

The step was requested over a recent letter of BEH proposing the introduction of a 30% tax on photovoltaic power plants and restrictions on the output of all producers of renewable electricity, according to Meglena Rusenova, BPVA Chair, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).

Rusenova commented that the proposal of BEH to use the funds raised through the tax for capitalizing NEK as "absurd and scandalous," adding that pouring money into unreformed state-owned energy firms would deepen the crisis in the sector and there would be no transparency about how NEK or BEH would use the proceeds.

"We insist on an audit by an international body, which should recommend measures for restructuring BEH, which was also mentioned in the World Bank report published in Bulgaria on May 27, 2013,"the BPVA Chair declared.

She said that giving up on reforms in state-owned energy firms actually denoted a refusal to upgrade the energy sector and an unwillingness to keep track of global development trends in the sphere.

She said that an example of this was the obstructions placed byBEH subsidiaries like NEK and ESO before the launch of the balancing market.

She informed that the BPVA members would announce their next steps after the government came up with an official stance of the proposal of BEH.

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