BiH suffers drastic fall in power export revenue

Exporters of electricity in Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved a total of EUR 240 million in revenue from the activity in the first three quarters. With import costs calculated in, the balance came in at EUR 154 million. In the same period of last year, the two items amounted to EUR 449 million and EUR 357 million, respectively.

Amid challenges in coal production and the operation of thermal power plants, alongside the drought’s impact on hydropower output, BiH suffered a major drop in the electricity export-import balance, in money terms. Notably, the competitiveness of domestically produced power delivered into the European Union will be gradually lowered from the beginning of 2026.

It is the scheduled start of a carbon dioxide tax, or charge or customs tariff, under the bloc’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Given the situation right now, Western Balkan governments won’t be able to fulfill the obligations that would temporarily exempt electricity from the levy.

Data from the Indirect Taxation Authority, as reported by Glas Srpske, showed the country’s status of a net power exporter is diminishing.

Delivery abroad brought EUR 240 million in income in the first three quarters of 2024. Imports cost EUR 86 million.

In the same period of last year, exports amounted to EUR 449 million, against EUR 93 million paid for imports.

Net income drops 57%

Therefore the export-import balance dropped 57% year over year, to EUR 154 million. Of course, the sums depend on the prices of different batches of electricity delivered across the border or bought from abroad. For some quantities they are fixed, under long-term contracts, while prices of other deliveries follow benchmark prices on power exchanges.

The biggest share of electricity exports went to Serbia, EUR 87 million. Next are Croatia, EUR 57 million, and Slovenia, EUR 39 million. Neighboring Montenegro is fourth, with EUR 29 million, followed closely by Switzerland, which drew power worth EUR 27 million.

Less income from power exports means higher prices for domestic consumers

Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine (EPBiH), one of three state-owned power utilities, obviously didn’t handle well the sales of its surpluses, energy expert Almir Bečarević was quoted as saying in the article. He warned that the trend of decrease in coal production is dramatic.

“Now we are facing the fact that we are producing electricity only for our needs, while a smaller share is exported, while before we were known as one of bigger power exporters,” Bečarević asserted. EPBiH thus needs to raise power prices for its consumers, so that it compensates the export drop, he added.

Coal complex RiTE Ugljevik loses EUR 15.3 million in first nine months

RiTE Ugljevik, one of the country’s key power producers, reported a EUR 15.3 million loss for the period through September. The operator of a coal power plant with a mine, located in the northeast, was EUR 5.9 million in the red last year.

Total income tumbled 9% and total expenditures rose 4.8%, it wrote in a report for the Banja Luka Stock Exchange.

The firm is part of state-owned Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske, which belongs to the Republic of Srpska, one of the two entities making up Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one, the Federation of BiH, owns EPBiH and the third utility, Elektroprivreda HZHB.

Because of an arbitration case that it lost last year, RiTE Ugljevik must, as long as the coal plant operates, deliver a third of the electricity that it produces to Slovenian state-owned power utility Holding Slovenske elektrarne (HSE).

The facility achieved the production target almost 100%, delivering 990 GWh. However, RiTE Ugljevik sells electricity to HSE below the market price. Moreover, it owes EUR 125 million in damages, which is why it initiated a capital increase procedure, given its string of losses.