Consumers in Serbia, in South East Europe, can start choosing their energy supplier six months ahead of the deadline for the market to open up, according to energy minister Zorana Mihajlović.
Mr Mihajlović said that under the new draft Energy Act, Serbian households could start switching their energy supplier from July 1 2014, brought forward from January 1, 2015.
Mr Mihajlović said: “Households can select the supplier with the best terms and conditions of electricity supply.
“Out of 75 licensed suppliers – most of them work in wholesale – six have so far expressed their interest to supply electricity to final consumers.”
Under the European Union’s Third Energy Package, legislation aimed at further opening up the gas and electricity markets in the EU, Serbian electricity transmission system operators must be unbundled to ensure more competition in generation, transmission and supply.
The country has begun the process of changing the legal status of state-owned utilities Elektroprivreda Srbije and Elektromreža Srbije from public enterprises into public limited companies.
Source; Metering