"There was a decline in demand from Turkey, which suffered economic recession and had more favourable weather after severe drought in previous years," Venislav Tsanev, head of the ministry's Economic Policy department, told reporters.

The main buyers of Bulgarian power last year were Turkey, Albania and the Yugoslav province of Kosovo, NETC has said, adding Bulgaria remained a leading exporter in the region.

It has forecast a further drop in this year's electricity exports to some 5.0-5.3 billion kWh because Bulgaria closed down two old reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in line with pledges to the European Union, which it hopes to join in 2007.

Tsanev said another reason for NETC's lower profits was a weaker dollar/euro rate last year. The Bulgarian lev has been pegged to the euro since 1999 under an IMF-backed currency board regime.

Despite NETC's performance, Bulgaria's energy sector nearly doubled its pre-tax profit last year to 552 million levs, Deputy Energy Minister Ilko Yotsev told a news conference.

He attributed the improved results to higher domestic power and heating prices and government measures to boost state energy companies' efficiency and reduce their debts.