Zorana Mihajlovic, the Serbian Minister of Energy said today that we can not talk about increasing electricity prices until social maps and new tariff system are completed.
– It would be sometime in the end of the heating season that we can talk about possible increase in the prices of electricity, but after a series of economic analysis – said Mihajlovic.
She said that her ministry has prepared all the criteria for the socially threatened buyer and they are waiting for the economic analysis to be completed by the end of the year.
– Some time next year there will certainly be an increase in electricity prices, but only when we finish the tariff system and the social map. Any one guessing when the increase in the price of electricity would occur, or to what percentage, is not serious – said Mihajlovic.
As she said, the annual business plan of the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) came to the Ministry of Energy on schedule and was sent to other ministries for their opinion.
– In this plan there is no clearly foreseen percent of increase in the price of electricity – said the Serbian Minister of Energy.
She said that EPS proposes the price to the Energy Agency which gives an opinion, and the Government of Serbia based on that opinion makes a decision about a possible increase in electricity prices.
Mihajlovic said that the economic analysis would be done to avoid the situation that the EPS says it will pay the cost of low-cost electricity and to satisfy the interests of citizens and businesses, as well as the interests of the public company.
The heating season in Serbia lasts from October 15 to April 15.
Deputy Director General of EPS Životije Jovanovic, said yesterday that the electricity price increase of about 20 percent, is expected early next year, adding that the EPS would likely ask for a bigger percentage of increase.
Source Serbia Energy Magazine