DSO EPS Distribucija is no longer part of Elektroprivreda Srbije

Power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) is no longer the owner of distribution system operator (DSO) EPS Distribucija as its ownership was transferred to the Government of Serbia.

Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlović and acting director of EPS Milorad Grčić today signed an agreement on the transfer of ownership of DSO EPS Distribucija from EPS to the Republic of Serbia. EPS Distribucija is in charge of managing and maintaining the power distribution grid in Serbia.

The transfer of ownership is the final step in unbundling the distribution system from EPS, which began five years ago

The transfer of ownership is the final step of the unbundling of the DSO from EPS, which began five years ago. The business has now been separated from production and supply. The move was envisaged by the Energy Law, adopted in 2014, and comes within the transposition of the European Union’s Third Energy Package. It was introduced in order to increase competition on the market with the idea for the DSO to be an independent company and to enable all interested suppliers, private companies operating on the market as well as state-owned EPS, to supply customers under the same conditions.

DSOs are an important factor in the energy transition because they enable the integration of distributed generation of electricity

DSOs are important for easier integration of new production capacities with lower installed capacity – so-called distributed generation – such as solar power plants on the roofs of companies and houses or on farms.

EPS established EPS Distribucija back in 2015, but its separation wasn’t formally completed before the ownership was transferred to the Government of Serbia.

Mihajlović: There will be no more duplication of costs

Minister Zorana Mihajlović said the goal of the ownership transfer is to make both companies operate more efficiently.

So far, the employees engaged in the maintenance of the distribution network were part of EPS’s technical center and EPS Distribucija and were tasked with almost the same job, which doubled some of the expenses, she said.

The DSO will now finally be able to obtain a license, in line with the Energy Law.

Mihajlović said the Serbian government has a vision to reduce losses in the distribution network as much as possible, which is several times.

Atlagić: The technical part of the distribution activities will finally be in one place

The technical part of distribution activities will finally be in one place, which will increase the quality of services, reliability and quality of electricity supply, said Bojan Atlagić, acting director of EPS Distribucija.

Grčić: EPS will focus on investments in renewable energy sources

Acting director of EPS Milorad Grčić said that the company would continue with modernization efforts and investment in environmental protection and new production capacities. “Our focus will be on renewable energy sources in order to have more green energy in the future,” he added.