Tomašević: I have fulfilled my task in EPS

Power company Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) has earned EUR 49 million from electricity exports since the beginning of the year, acting CEO Miroslav Tomašević said and stressed that he has fulfilled his task.

Miroslav Tomašević has been leading Serbia’s largest company since March, when he replaced Milorad Grčić, after massive issues and outages in the production of coal and electricity.

The acting director of EPS highlighted the export data at the meeting of the supervisory board, when he presented the situation in the company and its business results.

EPS has improved the entire system

“We have achieved our goal,” Tomašević said and added that thanks to a relatively mild winter, good hydrological conditions, and the readiness of coal power plants, EPS has improved the entire system and that now there is enough electricity for exports.

In March alone, earnings from exports reached EUR 32.5 million. Since the beginning of the year, the amount reached EUR 49 million.

The coal dump sites are full

System stability was additionally raised with coal imports so currently the coal dump sites are full, especially in Kostolac, one of Serbia’s two main lignite hubs. There is currently 1.77 million tons of the fuel at EPS’s coal-fired power plants, the most in several years, he said.

Tomašević noted this year’s overhaul operations have begun and that all planned contracts have been signed. On March 19, works started at unit 4 in the Nikola Tesla A (TENT A) thermal power plant. The overhaul of TENT B1 is scheduled to begin on April 2 while the activities concerning the mining equipment in the Kolubara basin are set to launch on April 15.

The utility poses no financial risk for the government

“I have fulfilled my task, to return EPS to a good condition, together with the team,” he stressed.

Tomašević said he has informed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about all the results and plans and that he assured its representatives that the utility poses no financial risk for the government.

Disturbances in EPS turned severe in December 2021 with a serial breakdown in Serbia’s largest coal-fired thermal power plants.

EPS lost EUR 628 million in 2022, but the situation was gradually improving, so the company announced in January that it was no longer dependent on electricity imports, and soon after that it achieved record exports.