Romanian power grid operator Transelectrica (TEL.RO) Wednesday reported a first-quarter net profit of 91.75 million lei ($6.26 million), more than double compared with RON45 million in the same period of 2012, news agency Mediafax reported.

First-quarter sales fell 35.1% to RON568.3 million, mainly due to a RON317 million decrease in revenue from the balancing market.

The balancing market ensures equilibrium between electricity generation and consumption, in real time and in a competitive system, and it's a non-profit operation for Transelectrica. The balancing market expenses also fell by a similar amount, and Transelectrica's operating costs were down to RON469.6 million in January-March, from RON818.8 million in the year-ago period.

The power grid operator reported an operating profit of RON108.3 million, from RON67.9 million in the first quarter of 2012.

For the whole of 2013, state-owned Transelectrica forecasts a pretax profit of RON44.6 million, down 5% on the year. The company expects total revenue to rise to RON2.86 billion in 2013, from RON2.76 billion a year earlier. Overall costs are forecast up at RON2.81 billion, compared with RON2.68 billion in 2012.

Romania 's economy ministry owns 58.69% in Transelectrica, while investment funds Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) and SIF Oltenia (SIF5.RO) hold stakes of 13.5% and 6.3%, respectively.

Transelectrica opened up 2.8% at RON13.05 a share in Bucharest , amid a rising market.

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