EVN Bulgaria Elektrosnabdiavane EAD (Bulgaria)

EVN Bulgaria Elektrosnabdiavane, former Elektrorazpredelenie Stara Zagora (Electricity Distribution Company-Stara Zagora) was established in 2000 after retail sales of electricity were spun off the country's power export monopoly National Electric Company (NEC). Its core business consists of the supply of electric power in the regions of Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Stara Zagora, Burgas, Sliven, Yambol, Haskovo, Kardzhali and Smolyan.
In October 2004, Austrian regional energy utility EVN signed a deal to buy 67% stakes in the power distribution utilities at Plovdiv and Stara Zagora. EVN placed a winning EUR 271 million bid for the majority stakes in the two companies grouped in the so-called Southern Bulgaria privatisation pool at a tender held in July 2004. In the second half of 2006, EVN Bulgaria separated the electricity and supply networks it owned in two different entities. As a result, Elektrorazpredelenie Stara Zagora was renamed into EVN Bulgaria Elektrosnabdiavane (EVN Bulgaria Electricity Supply AD or "EVN ES" AD), and put in charge of electricity supply and sales. Elektrorazpredelenie Plovdiv started dealing with electricity distribution under the name of EVN Bulgaria Elektrorazpredelenie AD (EVN Bulgaria Electricity Distribution AD or "EVN ER" AD). In December 2011 Bulgaria's Privatization Agency sold its 33% stake in the company on the local stock exchange. In 2012 EVN AG became the sole owner of EVN Bulgaria Elektrosnabdiavane. The utility, whose supply area measures some 42,000 square kilometers, services more than 1.5 million consumers in southeastern Bulgaria.