Miroslav Tomašević appointed as acting CEO of Serbia’s power utility EPS

Miroslav Tomašević replaced Milorad Grčić as the acting director of Elektroprivreda Srbije – EPS, Serbia’s state-owned coal and electricity producer.

The Government of Serbia named Executive Director for Electricity Generation Technical Affairs of EPS Miroslav Tomašević as the new acting director. The government-controlled company has been in turmoil since late last year due to a series of breakdowns and fires in its coal mines and thermal power plants.

The biggest incident happened on December 12 with the first snowfall. The two biggest thermal power plants, TENT A and TENT B, ceased production almost completely.

The combination of mud-laden coal and other factors lead to the collapse, which prompted EPS to turn to imports. At one moment, Serbia was covering 45% of its power consumption from abroad.

Criticized by President Aleksandar Vučić and the Government of Serbia, Grčić submitted his resignation almost two months ago, but he was still officially in charge in the meantime. He was appointed in 2016 and his term expired after one year, but he was left at the helm of the dominant power producer until now in breach of law.

Tomašević was one of the candidates in 2017 to become the permanent head of Serbia’s biggest company, but the government decided to leave Grčić at the helm. The new acting director earlier downplayed the severity of the December collapse in EPS and Serbia’s overall electric power system.

EPS is still suffering from low coal supply and quality, not least because one of the biggest and newest machines at its Kolubara open pits burned down on January 10, after which Grčić quit.