Bulgarian Anti-trust Body Probing ESO's Power Line Construction Tender

Bulgaria's competition authority said on Tuesday it is looking into a complaint over actions of state-owned Electricity System Operator (ESO) in a tender for construction of a 400 kV overhead transmission line linking Varna and Burgas substations.

The complaint was filed by local company Atomenergoremont on November 1, the Commission for Protection of Competition's said in a notice. ESO opened the 103 million levs tender for construction of the 90.2-kilometre power line in September. On October 4, the company extended the deadline for submitting offers from October 26 to November 8. The tender is part of a larger EU-backed project, envisaging construction of a 110-kilometre AC 400 kV single-circuit interconnector between Dobrudzha and Burgas substations.