Belgrade- Electricity and gas market will be liberalized on 1 January 2013, although many participants aren’t ready for liberalization.
Big industrial users will by new Energy Law have to buy electricity on free market from 2013. Households will do the same thing from 2015, but they will still have right on public supplier determined by government.
9, 5 % electricity market will be opened next year. That will cover 27 big industrial consumers and 40% gas market, announced member of Energy Agency Association (AERS) Ljiljana Hadzibabic at meeting about electricity and gas market liberalization.
All consumers that market is being opened for and which don’t sign agreement about electricity supply, with the cheapest supplier they choose, until January 1, will be excluded from network, said Ljiljana and messaged them to do it as soon as they can.
Hadzibabic stressed that all secondary acts for electricity market liberalization are ready, but that part of methodology and gas liberalization equipment are missing.
Despite that, market opening will start next year. Problems will be for sure in the beginning, but they will be gradually resolved. Some rules will be changed if practice shows, said Hadzibabic on web magazine “Balkanmagazin” conference.
Deputy Minister for Energy Mirjana Filipovic has also messaged that enforcement of energy law won’t be postponed because Serbia must enforce assumed obligations and adjust energy market with EU market. That law considers gas and electricity market opening.
She didn’t have to say if big electricity owners as RTB Bor, Petrohemija, Zeleznice Srbije will stay without electricity because of debts and which way these reconstruction problems will be solved. He pointed that government of Serbia is responsible for that and it should declare about it as soon as possible.
Elekroprivreda Srbije (EPS) offered to consumers 46% higher than regulated price, although regulated price can be about 60% higher than current regulated price for industry, said EPS Director for Electricity Market Dragan Vlaisaljevic.
He emphasized that EPS is ready for electricity market opening, but it is hard to liberalize electricity market with electricity price which in Serbia is the lowest in Europe, it amounts 5, 5 euro-cent for kilowatt-hour.
Households and small buyers will supply until 2015 as usual on EPS regulated prices, and they could but don’t have to buy electricity on free market since 2015.
That law brings to electricity market new institution of public supplier which will be in charge for household and small buyers’ electricity ensuring until 2015.
They will also have possibility to choose its supplier and find the one which will sell the lowest price electricity. But if they don’t want to, they don’t have to, because they will still have rights on public supply.
Source Serbia Energy Magazine
