Bosnia and Herzegovina could set up power exchange in second half of 2026

Bosnia and Herzegovina is not expected to set up a power exchange before the second half of next year, according to economist Vjekoslav Domljan.

In April, after about ten years of discussions, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) finally finished drafting a bill on the electricity regulator, transmission, and power exchange. The regulation is a prerequisite for the country – the last in the Western Balkans – to establish a power exchange, but that does not mean that it will happen soon.

The Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the bill in July. However, the regulation has not yet reached the BiH parliament, economist and university professor Vjekoslav Domljan has told Dnevni avaz.

A power exchange is important for managing electricity surpluses and shortages

It is not certain the law will be passed by the end of the year, he said, adding that, at best, Bosnia and Herzegovina could set up a power exchange in the second half of next year.

He recalled that Croatia’s power exchange, CROPEX, was established in 2014, and Serbia’s SEEPEX in 2016, while Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo*, and North Macedonia followed suit two years ago. A power exchange, he explained, plays a key role in managing electricity surpluses and shortages and, based on supply and demand, in setting electricity prices.

Once an electricity exporter, BiH is becoming an importer

Domljan is convinced that Bosnia and Herzegovina will need foreign assistance to establish a power exchange, as was the case with setting up the Sarajevo exchange, SASE.

In his opinion, citizens will not benefit directly from the power exchange, but they could benefit indirectly. However, he stressed that this will only be possible if citizens are enabled to become prosumers and aggregators are allowed to pool their generation surpluses.

However, there are no prosumers in BiH – or rather, they exist in one political entity, the Republic of Srpska, but not in the other, the Federation of BiH, according to Domljan.

He pointed out that misguided policies are turning BiH from an electricity exporter into an importer. In the first six months of 2025, he added, the country imported four times as much electricity as it did in the same period of 2024.