BiH entities agree that establishing power exchange is priority

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska, the two entities making up Bosnia and Herzegovina, have agreed that the establishment of the electricity exchange should be a priority.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is the sole country in the Western Balkans, but also in Europe, which doesn’t have an electricity exchange. Until April 2023, only Serbia had the power exchange in the region, as its SEEPEX was launched in February 2016. In April and May 2023, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia kicked off day-ahead markets. ALPEX in Tirana covers Albania and Kosovo*.

It seems things are moving in the right direction in BiH. Petar Đokić, minister of mining and energy of the Republic of Srpska, and Vedran Lakić, minister of energy, mining and industry of the Federation of BiH, have met in Banja Luka.

They discussed the overall state of the energy sector and opportunities for its development, the ministries said.

The ministers vowed to do their utmost to finish the BiH’s law on electricity

The officials also examined the need to implement BiH’s obligations under the Energy Community Treaty and the harmonization of the domestic energy legislation with the European Union’s acquis.

They expressed support for the working group established at the BiH level and said they would make maximum efforts to finalize BiH’s electricity law with the priority being the establishment of the power exchange.

Lakić and Đokić agreed the cooperation between the entities on all other important energy issues should be continued.

A study on the establishment of the power exchange is being prepared

Of note, a study is underway on the establishment of the power exchange for day-ahead and intraday markets within the framework of the project EU4Energy – Support of the European Union to the Energy Sector in BiH.

The main goal is to provide stakeholders with guidelines on the establishment of the electricity market, according to a meeting held in October 2023 at the country’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.

The study should answer what needs to be done at the legislative, institutional and organizational levels to establish the exchange.