Public utility Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske (ERS) will have to go through major transformation in the first half of 2019 in order to become even more efficient in its business, the Bosnian Serb entity’s Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining Petar Đokić said.

According to media reports, he noted that two major obstacles to ERS’ development are that Republika Srpska (RS) maintains a policy of extremely low electricity tariffs and that the company has a large number of employees.

“These are the two key factors that most directly affect the financial results of all subsidiaries, but also ERS as a whole,” Đokić said.

There is no need to debate whether personnel changes at ERS will bring anything new, but it should rather be discussed how to improve the state this large company is in through a new, better organization, according to him.

“ERS, especially in the first half of next year, has to undergo a serious transformation and reorganization in order to improve its efficiency,” Đokić said.

ERS is a complex enterprise with ten subsidiaries, he recalled.

“The responsibility for any difficulties lies with the parent company and this cannot be separated from the responsibility of the management of all subsidiaries that make up this large company,” Đokić said.

He recalled that ERS still achieves good results – every year it provides electricity to the population of the RS and almost every year provides significant quantities of electricity for export.