Employers demand EPBiH cancel reserve electricity supply contracts

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Association of Employers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will urgently address the Management of the Public Enterprise Elektroprivreda BiH with a request to urgently cancel the contracts they sent to companies for reserve electricity supply for 60 days, with prices up to six times higher compared to last year, it was concluded at a meeting attended by more than a hundred employers from all over the Federation of BiH supplied with electricity by the Public Enterprise Elektroprivreda BiH.

The meeting was organized by the Association of Employers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Employers demand that Elektroprivreda BiH cancel the invoices and issue new invoices for electricity supply to companies that supplied them in 2021, regardless of whether these customers sent a request for an electricity supply offer, accepted the electricity supply offer, and signed a contract, or did not accept the electricity supply offer and did not sign a contract.

It is also required that in the new contracts, the basis for the increase in electricity prices by up to 20 percent is the electricity price from the annual contract of that customer for the previous year, before the electricity price increase.

It is further stated that the increased electricity prices apply from January 6, 2022, i.e., from the date of entry into force of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Electricity in FBiH, to all qualified electricity customers.

It was unanimously requested that the electricity supply contracts for qualified customers, which will be offered based on Article 16 a) of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Electricity in FBiH, must have the same supply conditions (e.g., in terms of payment deadlines, changes in supply prices during the contract period, force majeure, etc.) as the electricity supply contracts that were realized during 2021.

We emphasize that if Elektroprivreda BiH does not accept our requests, we demand an urgent session of the Government of the Federation of BiH at which a decision will be made in accordance with our requests.

UPFBiH will prepare a request for an authentic interpretation of Article 16 a) of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Electricity in FBiH from the Parliament of FBiH. Employers concluded that they will return the reserve electricity supply contracts to Elektroprivreda BiH, with the request to submit a reserve supply contract until January 5, 2022, and electricity supply contracts starting from January 6, 2022, in accordance with the aforementioned Law and the decision of the Government of the Federation of BiH on limiting the price increase of BiH electricity.