According to the Czech MFDnes newspaper, US officials will meet with the Czech deputy industry minister in the US over concerns that Czech electricity- and gas-sector privatization tenders are insufficiently transparent (following various critical reports by Czech media). The meeting will take place on the occasion of the Czech Prime Minister’s one-week visit to the US. Also, the US ambassador to the Czech Republic has reportedly raised the transparency issue at a meeting with Czech Industry Minister Miroslav Gregr. Czech officials insist that all bidders will be treated equally. The short-listed bidders are Electiricite de France, and consortia of NRG/International Power and Iberdrola/Enel.
Also, the state Anti-Monopoly Office said that it might block power-sector privatization if the tender results in one company taking significant control over generation, transmission, and distribution. The AMO has again criticized the recent decision by the Ministry of Industry to leave the national transmission grid—100% owned by CEZ—among the assets to be sold to the privatization tender winner (these assets also include generation, i.e., CEZ’s parent company, and several regional distributors).
(Ondrej Datka)