By July 1st, EPS should open up the market for small customers, as it has been already done in the medium and high voltage. The company’s goal is to become an important factor in the production of electricity in the Balkans. From 2002 to 2012, EPS produced 372 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. If the company was selling the electricity in the former Yugoslavia, it would have achieved revenue of more than five billion euros – said Aca Markovic, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Electric Power Industry.
“Serbia has eight transmission lines of 400 kilovolts, which are connecting with the neighboring countries and therefore there is a possibility of transmission of electricity, and the region has deficit by around five billion kilowatt-hours yearly,” he added.
“In recent years, EPS has significantly increased the capacity of power plants and according all the parameters in this area is among the European top, because a lot has been invested in enhancing the efficiency and power of its plants, and the consumption of coal per kilowatt-hour has been reduced,” Markovic said.
“Serbian households currently pay for electricity at a price that is 30 percent lower than the price in the market, and the Department of Energy by the development strategy has predicted that in the next three years, the real price for the population should be reached as well,” Deputy Minister of Energy Dejan Trifunovic says. Trifunovic said that the opening of the electricity market in Serbia began in January 2013, and 40 percent of the market is opened. He pointed out that, after the formation of the new Government, a special emphasis would be placed on the improvement of the public sector and positive changes in that area would be achieved by the end of the year.
“By the end of the year, according to the plan, the Serbian Electric Power Utility and TSO of Serbia should become shareholders companies and corporatized as well, “ Trifunovic said.
“Households should expect price increase with the opening of the market because the current price in Serbia is below the one which enables investments, “ a Member of the Council of the Agency for Energy, Ljiljana Hadžibabić said.
“If we do not provide the cost to build new power plants, we will be in a big problem with security of supply. We need to create environment to reach some new capacities,” said Hadzibabic.
Source; Serbia Energy