With the changes to the tariff system 12 years old, the electricity would no longer be read every month, for which consumers pay about two MEUR every year.With the opening of the electricity market by the New year the households in Serbia will be able, not only to choose from whom they will buy electricity because EPS will not be the only supplier, but also, to have a day and night electricity consumption in their accounts instead of three colors – red, blue and green zonesand finally to find out the real price of kilowatt-hour.
In addition, with the change of this tariff system 12 years old the electricity would no longer be read every month, for what is spent around two MEUR per yearand what consumerspay, but the electricity would be read as it is the case everywhere in Europe once or twice a year.
Asked what the new tariff system, if it is adopted, would brought to households in Serbia, Jovan Jovanovic, a member of the National Council for Consumer Protection of the Government of Serbia, who participated in this proposal drafting explains that any country in the European Uniondoes not recognizethe tariff system is Serbia.
“Electricity bills with two tariffs (higher and lower) and three colors in addition to imagined fixedparts and the interest itemare still a mystery for Electric Power Industries of EU countries. With Such bills people have never and will never know what the actual price of spent kilowatt-hour of electricity. With its change people should exactlyknow how much electricity costs and also there should be only two tariffs – daily and night”,said Jovanovic.
New tariff system draft also could solve the question that people are mostly interested in – a way of calculating the energy consumption. Thereal price that the consumer uses during the accounting periodwill be charged through this item.
“The problem is that the calculation is made through two versions and three colors, while EU recognizes only two tariffs – daily and night. In fact, thecalculation throughtwo tariffs and three colors aims to cover the real cost of kilowatt-hours, because it is unknown how much kilowatt-hours cost by tariffs and colors, and generally it has been manipulatedwith the actual electricitycost”,our sourceiscategorically.
According to official data, the price of kilowatt-hours in Serbia is around 6.26 eurocents, which is difficult to verifydue to the “single tariff system”, but according to Eurostatresearch, if the electricity price is calculated according to consumers’ purchasing power, the price in Serbia is around 13.7 eurocents. This means, says Jovanovic, that Serbian citizens pay the electricity at the same price as the French, and more expensive than the citizens of Sweden and Finland.
Jovanovic says that is also unacceptable the interestitem, which can be seen in the accounts, because EPS is not a financial institution and has no the right to charge interest on incurreddebts. Any Electric Power Industry in the EU does not chargeinterest on the debt for the consumed electricity.
Due to the marketopening forhouseholdsby 2015th, it is alsonecessary to adapt the existing tariff system in order that the customers can use their supplierschoice, says our source, who is also president of the Consumer Protection Forum – Nis.