Households electricity prices in Serbia to remain below market prices for a long period

Electricity prices for households are far below what market prices should be in Serbia, an official of the Serbian public power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) said. Dragan Vlaisavljević, EPS Executive Director in charge of electricity sales, said those prices are expected to remain at levels below market prices for a long period.

Households electricity prices in Serbia and Kosovo* are the lowest in the Western Balkans region, the Eurostat data showed.

“Our guaranteed supplies are below market prices and that will not change. The guaranteed supplier will continue to supply the guaranteed market for a number of years,” he told at the conference Ekonomist – the World in 2018, adding that the EPS is facing a very competitive market and has to make constant investments.

Vlaisavljević said the EPS is the biggest state-owned energy producer, distributor, and supplier in the Western Balkans region and added that the Serbian power company produces enough electricity to meet the needs of the domestic market.

The EPS officials said Serbia’s electric power links to its neighbors are much better than its natural gas links and added that the main flow of electricity is from east to west since Bulgaria and Romania have surplus power production.

Some 14 TWh of electricity cross Serbia’s borders every year which is about 40 percent of the current production in the country, he said and added that the EPS is planning to increase its power production in 2018 to the level it reached in 2016 which was one of the best years ever for hydropower plant production of electricity.

Vlaisavljević said the region suffers from an electricity deficit with power production being reduced in coal-powered plants but with the hydropower production sector remaining stable. He said the biggest importer of electricity is Hungary with 8 to 12 TWh while the biggest exporter is Bulgaria with up to 10 TWh a year.

“Electric power production capacities from renewable sources in Serbia and the region are being doubled, primarily wind and solar power production and Serbia is expected to get 1 TWh of power from renewable sources, mainly wind farms, by the year 2021,” he said.

The conference was held in the Serbian Parliament and was attended by government officials, ambassadors, business people and economy experts. It was opened by Parliament Speaker Maja Gojković, and the Ministers of Infrastructure, Traffic and Construction Zorana Mihajlović and of Labor, Employment, Veterans’ and Social Issues Zoran Đorđević.