Maribor - The supervisory board of electricity distributor Elektro Maribor has dismissed chairman Boris Sovič, in what is the third major staffing decision in state-owned energy firms in two weeks.

The supervisors said Sovič was dismissed due to delays in the achievement of business goals, inadequate preparation for the green transformation, poor oversight of subsidiaries, and loss of trust.

The president of the supervisory board, Jože Hebar, will take over as interim chairman, the company said in a press release.

Sovič, a former Social Democrat (SD) mayor of Maribor who served as the company's chairman since 2012, confirmed for the STA he was dismissed but would not provide any additional comment.

The move comes a week after the supervisors dismissed the chairman of Elektro Ljubljana, Slovenia's largest electricity distributor, a move that Andrej Ribič plans to challenge in court.

This week, Robert Golob failed to get a new term at the helm of Gen-I, the country's largest electricity retailer.

The replacements have been framed by media as the government's attempt to get their staff into top positions at state-owned energy firms before the next election.