The Bulgarian government is going to receive a dividend of BGN 41 M from the Czech-owned power utility CEZ Bulgaria.

This has become clear Monday after a meeting of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov with Jan Vavera, regional manager of CEZ for Bulgaria, which was also attended by Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism, Traicho Traikov, and Deputy Environment Minister Evdokiya Maneva as well as the head of Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation (DKEVR), Angel Semerdzhiev.

Vavera told the PM there will be upcoming early general meetings of the boards of CEZ subsidiaries GEZ Razpredelenie and CEZ Electro, during which the company will approve the payment of a dividend of BGN 41 M to the state for the period 2006-2009.

The CEZ manager has made it clear that CEZ Bulgaria has good liquidity and the decision to pay the above-mentioned dividend to the state will not affect its capacity to invest in the country's electricity distribution network.

The other topic of the meeting of the CEZ management with the Bulgarian government were the possibilities for continuing the work of the Varna Thermal Power Plant including the need for investments guaranteeing the security of the Bulgarian energy system.

TPP Varna EAD is the second largest thermoelectric power plant in Bulgaria and on the Balkan Peninsula. The plant is condenzation type, of total installed capacity 1260 MWh–six mono-blocks, 210MWh each. TPP Varna EAD is owned by CEZ.

The Bulgarian government and CEZ have confirmed their readiness to implement a joint memorandum providing for EUR 40 M investments by the Czech company in energy efficiency and energy infrastructure.