Gas prices to rise over 40 percent, Energoinvest cannot guarantee sufficient daily quantities

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Although Energinvest d.d. Sarajevo announced on December 21st that the gas supply to the Federation of BiH from Russia continues to be regular, according to today's announcement by Sarajevogas, this information is not entirely accurate. In addition, Energoinvest has announced an increase in the purchase price of natural gas for distribution companies in the Federation of BiH by 14.95 percent from January 1, 2022.

The price was already increased once in November by 23.5 percent compared to October, and the KS Government subsidized this increase so that citizens would not pay higher bills along with all other price increases. The KS Government's subsidy is valid until December 31, 2021.

If the KS Government does not subsidize the gas price increase next year, citizens will pay bills that are 40 percent higher, if there is gas at all.

"Representatives of 'Energoinvest' informed the Management of Sarajevogas via e-mail that they cannot guarantee daily deliveries of natural gas exceeding 1.2 million Sm3 for the first quarter of 2022 for all its customers, which, according to consumption history in winter months, is not enough for the regular supply of all consumers. In case additional quantities of natural gas are not secured during extremely cold days, KJKP 'Sarajevogas' will not be able to supply its large consumers, including KJKP 'Toplane-Sarajevo', about which the Management of this company has been informed. Also, the Government of Sarajevo Canton has been informed about these problems," stated KJKP 'Sarajevogas'.

We remind you that Energoinvest signed a contract with the Russian supplier Gazprom under the same conditions but only for the first five months of 2022. Therefore, Energoinvest did not plan for larger quantities of gas, even though we are in the middle of winter, and instability was already recorded at the beginning of the season at the end of October when Sarajevogas left Toplane-Sarajevo without gas due to insufficient quantities. 

The second problem is the price, which will not stop at 40 percent, but could increase again from April. The FBiH depends solely on Russian gas, and activities on the South Interconnection project, which would enable another way of obtaining gas through Croatia, have been halted for months. During the visit of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković to BiH, there was talk about the construction of a gas pipeline that would allow BiH to take gas from Krk. 

The House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament adopted the Law on the South Interconnection, but the House of Peoples of the Federal Parliament has not yet done so. 

Incidentally, Energoinvest entered into a dispute with the Hungarians due to non-payment of invoices because, by switching to TurkStream from April 1, 2021, they did not terminate the contract with the Hungarians, according to which the Hungarian supplier has the right to sue and seek compensation.