Meeting at the FBiH Government: Businesses Against Enormous Electricity Price Increases

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Representatives of the Association of Employers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Management of the Public Enterprise Elektroprivreda BiH will hold a meeting with the federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalić and the Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Nermin Džindić, regarding the announced electricity price increases for businesses.

The employers of FBiH held a meeting with the Management of EP BiH on October 1st and reached an agreement that the announced electricity price increase is unsustainable and would have unforeseeable consequences for businesses, as well as for the population and society as a whole.

If an increase is unavoidable, employers demand that it not exceed nine percent, i.e., a single-digit number.

Minister Džindić told BH radio 1 on Monday that the FBiH Government and the relevant ministry are prepared to give certain consents to Elektroprivreda regarding changes to the rulebook. Elektroprivreda has already started offering new contracts with increased prices to business entities.

“On one hand, we want to protect Elektroprivreda, and on the other hand, we want to help businesses overcome these difficult problems. The best possible solution is to adjust the rulebook, so that the price of electricity for business companies remains at last year's level or increases slightly. We are witnessing enormous and rapid price increases for electricity in Europe, as well as for other energy sources like gas,” Džindić added.

The prices of energy sources such as gas and electricity are skyrocketing on the world market, and if the price of gas continues to rise, there could be an increased demand for electricity, which could destabilize the market.