On the 22th February, Management Board of PE “Serbian Power Industry” (EPS) rendered a decision on establishing the PD “EPS Snabdevanje”, a company for supplying electricity to end customers with Head office in Belgrade. Pursuant to the Conclusion of the Government of Serbia, adopted on the 12th February, members of the Management Board of EPS adopted a decision on settling the old debt for electricity, which in the effect will have the old debt rescheduled and default interest accrued in 2012 written off.
– The Decision on the establishing “EPS Supply” meets in part the provisions of the Energy Law and the Conclusion of the Government of Serbia of 16th November 2012 on adopting the baseline for the reorganization of EPS. Also on the agenda of the next meeting will be establishing the PD “Operator distributivnog sistema” (“Distribution System Operator”) company, which is mandatory according to the Law on Energy – said after the meeting of the Board Aleksandar Obradović, Acting General Manager of EPS. He added that talks between him and the President of the Management Board of EPS are always constructive and open, and pointed to the failure to issue some decisions, despite the conclusion of the Government of Serbia and requirements set by the Energy Law. Mr. Obradović has appealed to the Management Board members to make those decisions that are ordered by the Serbian Government and to which they are obliged by the law, emphasizing that there is no personal or political conflict with the Management Board of EPS.
Aleksandar Marković, PhD, the Head of the Management Board of EPS, said that the decision on the establishment of PD “EPS Supply” was made unanimously, however the one giving final approval for the company establishing is the Government of Serbia.
– EPS is a large system, which these days enjoys an excellent production both in hydro and thermo sectors. EPS currently exports electricity, and being a company generating the electricity means it shall never hit a crisis – Marković said.
As for suggestions on borrowing 30 billion RSD, Mr. Obradović said that the agreement is expected to be reached in the Serbian Government, Ministries of Energy and Finance, in order to perform an analysis of internal capacities of EPS and debt collection. Marković said that the decision to regulate the old debt is very important to customers in Serbia, as it will enable many customers to pay the debt in installments, with writing-off the interest.
The decision on the old debt refers to all customers, both households and businesses. Conditions for the signing of the debt rescheduling are as follows: the buyer who on 31 December 2012 had a debt for the electricity used, shall submit a request to enter into an agreement from the 1st to 31st of March, providing he will have settled the payment obligations for the 2013 until the conclusion of the agreement. Debt rescheduling is allowed in the range of three to 24 monthly installments, depending on the amount of debt. Debtors from the category of “households” owing less than 10,000 RSD will be allowed to reschedule the debt in three installments, while those with higher debt, repayment will be offered in six to 24 installments.
According to one of the conditions under the Agreement of debt rescheduling, the customer shall regularly meet his current obligations for electricity during the repayment period of rescheduled debt. In the event that the customer after being warned fails to pay two consecutive rescheduled installments following on delays in settling the current monthly obligations, it shall be considered that the agreement shall be terminated and the calculation to include the whole debt with accrued interest shall be performed, in a way that would be otherwise applied in the event that no agreement is concluded.
Source Kwh/Serbia Energy
