CEZ receives power bids as it seeks to comply with EU ruling

• 11 years ago (2012-11-24)
• Junior Isles

Europe 1061

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Czech power utility CEZ AS has announced that it has received three eligible bids for its coal-fired Elektrarny Detmarovice electricity generator. It has also received separate offers for three of its other coal-burning power plants.

CEZ is selling the four generators in order to comply with the European Commission’s requirement to limit its share of the Czech electricity market.

Several local private energy companies and private equity firms, including Czech Coal, EPH Industrial Energy Holding and BXR, are among the bidders for the power plants.

The power utility says it will now “…assess all offers in a thorough fashion", adding that it expects to decide on these transactions by the year-end.

In 2009, the European Commission launched a probe of CEZ for alleged abuse of the company's monopolistic position in the market.

Under an agreement with the EU regulators, CEZ must sell at least 800 MW of its coal-fired electricity generation capacity.

The Czech power company, 70 per cent owned by the Czech government, is expected to raise about $1.5 billion from the sale of these generators, according to some analysts.