Ljubljana - Aleksander Zupančič, the chief-of-staff to Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak, has been appointed chairman of power grid operator Elektro Ljubljana. He will start his four-year term on 6 January, the company said.

Zupančič is already a supervisor at the partially state-owned energy group Petrol. His previous executive experience includes a stint as director of Komunala Brežice, a local utility, between 2011 and 2018.

The appointment by the supervisory board comes after the previous chairman, Andrej Ribič, was dismissed in November, reportedly due to foot-dragging on the sale of Elektro Ljubljana's stake in Gen EL, owner of 50% of the electricity trader Gen-I.

Ribič said Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec was being behind the dismissal and announced he would challenge the decision in court.

Elektro Ljubljana is one of several state-owned power grid operators. It posted sales of EUR 82.2m in 2020, the latest year for which data is available, and a net profit of EUR 11.3 million.