EPBiH: More than 70 percent of households consume electricity within the lowest tariff

(Patria) - More than 70 percent of households consume electricity within the lowest tariff, with a minimal monthly increase of a few KM, it was announced today by JP Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine, in response to, as they stated, incomplete and untrue information regarding the new method of calculating electricity consumption, which attempts to cause fear and mistrust.

They state that the information published in some media that the green tariff limit is set at 300 kWh is untrue, although it is clearly stated that the consumption limit is 350 kWh. This limit has been moved to, they emphasize, protect the interests of larger families who will mostly be within the limit of the most favorable tariff.

The company also says that it is untrue that this method of tariffing is not foreseen by any regulation, and states that differentiation based on electricity consumption is prescribed by the Rulebook on Methodology for Determining Prices.

"The price of the public supplier's service should cover all actual costs, but this is currently not the case, and EP BiH is taking on the coverage of the 11 percent difference between the selling and purchasing price of electricity. In this way, EP BiH protects its customers from sudden price changes and ensures that major disruptions do not occur. However, any additional increase in electricity consumption affects the additional increase in electricity prices for end customers because it creates the need to purchase additional quantities of electricity on the market, which is more expensive than the production price. Therefore, we constantly appeal for rational electricity consumption, because new price increases are not in the interest of either end customers or EP BiH," they state from Elektroprivreda BiH.

It is added that, despite all the difficulties EP BiH is facing and gradually resolving, a shortage of one million tons of coal annually for the production of sufficient quantities of electricity, inherited problems and hidden costs, total accumulated mine debts of around 1.3 billion, allocation of tens of millions of KM for the care of miners and mine closures, for subsidies for socially vulnerable categories and the like, EP BiH still manages to provide its customers with one of the lowest electricity prices compared to equivalent prices in the region and beyond.

The announcement also explains how the prices of all three electricity companies operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina are formed, stating that this division and different prices for end customers has existed for more than 30 years, and "it is only now being problematized without anything being done to change it".

"We have initiated an initiative for joint action by the competent ministers at the state and entity levels, the directors of all three electricity companies and the two regulators of Elektroprenos BiH, with the aim of improving and strengthening the energy sector and more efficiently regulating electricity prices for all three public suppliers, taking into account the principle of economy. Recently, such a meeting was held where we brought our positions closer on important energy issues," the statement from Elektroprivreda BiH reads.

All three electricity companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is noted, operate independently and determine prices for end customers based on their costs, especially in relation to electricity sources, whose costs differ significantly because production from thermal power plants is three times more expensive than production from hydroelectric and wind power plants.

"The total percentages of electricity production from different sources are as follows: EP BiH (80 percent thermal power plants - 20 percent hydroelectric power plants), EP RS (50 percent thermal power plants - 50 percent hydroelectric power plants) and EP HZHB (90 percent hydroelectric power plants - 20 percent wind power plants). EP BiH is in the most unenviable position because it relies mostly on thermal power plants with higher costs, but also due to insufficient quantities of coal, which forces it to buy electricity on the market. The transition to renewable, more favorable energy sources is hindered and complicated by bureaucratic obstacles such as the ban on disposing of state property, as well as opposition to the construction of hydroelectric power plants," stated Elektroprivreda BiH, BHRT reports.