Energy Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said today that there will be no price increase for electricity and gas in January and that previously maps for socially vulnerable citizens and a new tariff system will be made.
We should not speculate with the percentage of increase in the price, or the date when it will happen, Mihajlovic said for Radio-Television Serbia, adding that the authorities have not talked about it yet.
Pointing out that there will be no price increase for electricity and gas by the end of the year, she announced that maps for the socially vulnerable population will be completed by December 31, and that according to the new tariff system, which should be completed in January 2013, those who consume the most electricity for heating will be paying the most.
According to her, this means that in the new tariff system those who are spending “much larger amounts of electricity primarily for heating” will be paying higher prices.
“Social maps for vulnerable consumers will be finished by the end of this year, and the tariff system is expected to be finished in January,” said Mihajlovic.
She repeated that “the prices of electricity and gas should go up,” and according to all calculations it is clear to everyone, explaining that “we can not afford for EPS or “Srbijagas” to be the ones to have losses because of the low rates for gas or electricity. ”
“Of course, next year there will be an increase in the price of electricity and gas, but it won’t be in January, and guessing the price or the date is not realistic, nor did we discuss it, or made any calculations when it might occur,” said the Minister .
She also said that it is the first time she hears about the request of EPS to increase the price of electricity for 20 percent, explaining that such a request must first come to the Energy Agency which would give an opinion, and then the government and the Ministry of Energy would give their opinions.
Source Serbia Energy Magazine