Firms in Serbia pay as much for electricity as their counterparts in EU

The price of electricity for firms in Serbia is the same as for their counterparts in Europe, said Zoran Drakulić, president of Serbian business club Privrednik.

The price of electricity in Serbia for businesses is currently around EUR 110 per MWh. Before the start of the energy crisis, at the end of 2021, companies paid around EUR 50 per MW.

The price was raised in September 2022 by about 27%. In January, the tariff grew by about 8% and in May it was raised again, by 8%.

Drakulić: The production price of electricity in Serbia is four times lower than in the EU

Speaking at the association’s annual event in Belgrade, Drakulić pointed to another upcoming increase, announced by Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović.

At the moment, Serbian firms pay for electricity as much as their counterparts in the European Union, he stressed. Drakulić said the production cost in Serbia is four times lower than in the EU, arguing it is why the main supplier, government-controlled Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), achieved a jump in its profit. Drakulić claimed that the club consists of the 62 most successful businesspeople in Serbia.

In the first half of the year, EPS recorded a profit of almost EUR 530 million

At the end of August, Minister Đedović said the price of electricity should rise before the end of the year and that negotiations were ongoing. EPS has reported a profit of RSD 61.8 billion (EUR 527.3 million) for the first half of the year. In the same period of 2022, the company was RSD 49.3 billion (EUR 420.6 million) in the red.

The Government of Serbia vowed late last year, under an arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to increase the price of electricity and natural gas by 26%, and 30%, respectively, from May 2023 to May 2024.

Drakulić also said banks are boosting their margins, even at the expense of the poorest citizens, and pointed to a high level of corruption.