RiTE Ugljevik – coalmine and thermal power plant requested a 20 % higher purchase price for electricity it produces, due to investments and higher production costs.
The Energy Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Srpska (RERS) already launched a procedure through which the largest electricity producer in RS will have to explain its request in detail.
In the request submitted to RERS, RiTE Ugljevik states that current conditions, compared to 2016 when the last such procedure was conducted, have changed significantly, which is why the company needs an additional 12 million euros of per year in order to be able to operate normally. The company bases its demands on the fact that a flue gas desulphurization facility was recently put into operation, whose annual maintenance costs exceed 7.5 million euros. The facility consumes additional electricity and on the other hand, due to the poorer quality of coal in the existing mine, the planned annual production of electricity has been reduced by about 10 %.
As a result, RiTE Ugljevik demands that the average purchase price should be increased from 0.037 euros/kWh to 0.046 euros/kWh.
RERS scheduled a formal hearing on this matter for 3 September.
RiTE Ugljevik estimates that it will record losses in total amount of 37.5 million euros in the next three years. The business plan for the 2020-2022 period, which was adopted by the shareholders at the last general meeting held in April, estimates that the loss in this year will be 8 million euros, 11.4 million in 2021 and 18 million euros in 2022. Last year, RiTE Ugljevik recorded a net loss in the amount of 2.2 million euros. However, the company recorded a net profit in the amount of some 775,000 euros in the first quarter of 2020, compared to a net loss of around 300,000 euros in the same period last year. Its revenues in the first three months of the year rose by 12.2 % compared to the same period in 2018 and amounted to 16.5 million euros. Total expenditures rose by 5.8 % to 17.5 million euros.
