Serbia exclusive: Electricity traders without profits in Serbia

Published on 18. February 2014., News Serbia Energy

The biggest sellers of electricity, Vuk Hamovic, Vojin Lazarevic and Robert Golob, failed to gain customers in medium voltage. The greatest benefit from the liberalization on the medium voltage, where companies with more than 50 employees and annual revenues exceeding 10 million are supplied, had “EPS supply”, which was able to retain 95 percent of consumers. Approximately 3,200 companies were obliged to choose between twenty active traders. For the largest vendors, in addition to EPS, currently valid are Slovenian GEN, whose President and CEO is Robert Golob, then EFT – Vuk Hamovic and “Rudnap” – Vojin Lazarevic.

The fact that 95 percent of the market belonged to “EPS supply” does not mean, however, that all these customers willingly chose this public entity to deliver them electricity in 2014.
Zeljko Markovic, director of “EPS supply,” says for “Blic” that about 50 percent of the companies which they supplied with electricity at medium voltage is on the reserve supply.

– This means that these customers did not choose their seller and that by law they went to “EPS supply.” Electricity is more expensive for them about 30 percent compared to the others who have chosen the seller – said Markovic.

For the most part, as he says, it is the institutions of the local authorities that have not predicted in their 2013 budgets announcement of tender for the supply of electricity in 2014, and were not able to choose from whom they will buy it.

– No need to worry because this problem will be rectified because the conditions for the tender are now created – said Zeljko Markovic and notes that those who do not choose a supplier by the end of February, will remain without electricity.

With the opening of the market the electricity price for companies increased about 20-30 percent.

Dejan Paravan, executive sales director of GEN Group, said that decline in prices can be expected when the rules of functioning of market are clearly identified and defined in order to increase competition.

– Currently these conditions are not met in Serbia. Before liberalization, the prices were below market value and therefore were not a reflection of market conditions – Paravan says for ‘Blic’.

The same attitude is shared in EFT, where they say that the introduction of competition, which is the goal of liberalization of the market, leads to lower prices for end consumers long term.

– Current energy prices in European markets are at historical minimum, and this helps that energy which buy consumers at MV for this year is relatively cheap – they say in EFT.

Source; Serbia Energy