The Privatisation Agency (PA) is preparing to sell its major central heating companies in the next few months. The announcement was made on July 5. The steam and electricity generating plants in the cities of Rousse (on the Danube), Varna (on the Black Sea) and Plovdiv (Southern Bulgaria) would be sold in separate tenders by the end of the autumn.

Eligible bidders would be those involved in the generation or distribution of electricity or heating energy. The candidates would also have to provide a sales record of minimum 600 000 megawatt- hours (mWh) of electricity or 1.8 million mWh of heating power for the last three fiscal years and revenues of no less than 100 million leva (51.1 million euro) from their core activity for the same period. The candidates should have a long-term credit rating not lower than BB+ by Standard & Poor’s, Ba1 by Moody’s or BB+ by Fitch Ratings. No offshore companies would be allowed to bid.

These qualification criteria would apply to the potential buyers of all central heating plants, which Bulgaria would offer for sale this year.

Expectedly foreign energy majors like Austria’s EVN, Italy’s Enel, Germany’s E.ON, France’s Dalkia and Russia’s Gazprom would take part in the tender for the sale of 100 per cent of the central heating plant in Plovdiv. The PA has already taken a decision for the sale of the Plovdiv utility and the bidding would start as soon as the decision gets promulgated in the State Gazette.

The agency is expected to announce a decision on the sale of the heating plant in Varna, the country’s third-largest city. A decision on the Rousse heating plant is to be taken by the end of July.
The three central heating utilities are 100 per cent owned by the Bulgarian state.