Bosnia and Herzegovina’s electricity system remains stable despite prolonged drought and high temperatures sharply reducing hydropower production, according to state-owned utility Elektroprivreda BiH.
Months of below-average rainfall have weakened river inflows and reduced water availability across the utility’s hydropower portfolio. The shortfall has forced EPBiH to preserve stored water and use hydroelectric plants primarily during peak-demand periods and for voltage support rather than continuous baseload generation.
Coal-fired power plants have consequently assumed a larger share of electricity production. EPBiH said its available thermal capacity, operational reserves and advance planning remain sufficient to supply households and businesses without interruption.
The Jablanica reservoir, the utility’s principal storage facility, remains below its seasonal target following weak inflows between March and July. Water levels at the smaller Grabovica and Salakovac balancing reservoirs are more stable, although their operation depends on releases from Jablanica.
EPBiH continues to maintain the prescribed ecological flow downstream, limiting the amount of water that can be retained solely for power generation. The company said it could not provide a fixed calculation of how much lost hydroelectric production was being replaced by coal because dispatch conditions and electricity demand change from day to day.
The current position remains manageable because the utility prepared for a dry hydrological year by maintaining reserve thermal capacity. Additional market purchases are not expected unless an unplanned outage removes one of the thermal units from service.
That contingency remains the principal financial risk. Hydropower has low marginal operating costs, while replacement electricity from coal plants or the regional wholesale market is substantially more expensive. A simultaneous hydrological deficit and thermal outage could therefore turn an operational issue into a material earnings and liquidity exposure.
EPBiH does not currently expect the drought to have a significant effect on its financial results and has ruled out an immediate increase in regulated retail prices. The system’s resilience, however, is increasingly tied to the availability of aging coal-fired units precisely when drought conditions are reducing the flexibility normally provided by hydropower.
