When the electricity market in Serbia is fully opened by New Year, households will be able to choose whether to remain in the regulated or public supply or will be looking for a more favorable offer from suppliers.
In doing so, it can also be EPS Supply, but in a different role – as a provider of the free market. In this segment, however, some major changes are not expected because at the public supply remained households in the majority of countries where the regulated electricity price is similar to the market, and here it is below market value – the average is 5.21 eurocent per kilowatt-hour, not including VAT.
However according to Ljiljana Hadzibabic, a member of the Council of the Energy Agency, it is possible that suppliers in the free market prepare better offer for a household with a given profile of consumption. Households and small consumers, at least for now, are not interested in the changes that will happen on the Serbian electricity market from January 1st. There are several suppliers’ initiatives expected interested in this part of the market.
According to estimated data for the year, it was liberalized about 34 percent of Serbian electricity market; and supplier attention is focused on companies that already have to choose who will supply them with electricity. And the economy is looking for best offer, so more than 130 companies changed suppliers, or left EPS. One last year, the rest remained since the beginning of this year. EPS Supply, to recall, kept 96 percent of customers, as a backup supplier yet provides electricity to about one thousand companies that remain in the backup supply. Intended as a measure to satisfy temporarily, in the short term but at much higher prices applied in the market, the customers who remain without a supplier, the backup supply for these companies is rather pay tribute – to the end of the year. These are the companies in restructuring and bankruptcy awaiting their fate to be resolved. And, as a rule, they accumulate bills. What will be with them from January 1st , when it comes to the electricity supply, for now there is no answer.
– End-customers absorb approximately 28 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. Households consume about 51 percent, and small customers, including, for example, craftsmen and various institutions, about 15 percent of electricity. Economy and various higher institutions or groups of institutions such as schools or hospitals, electricity customers who can only buy on the open market, consuming about 34 percent of electricity – said Hadzibabic.
According to market conditions, energy in Serbia has been purchased also to cover losses in transmission and distribution network, which is additional 4.7 billion kilowatt-hours per year. Overall, approximately 14.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in Serbia is sold at market conditions, including energy loss, but the market openness is considered only as the energy ratio that end consumers have bought on the market – 9.5 billion kilowatt-hours and the total consumption of final customers – 28 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, says Ljiljana Hadzibabic.
