The most expensive is the energy that is not there, said the Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic for RTS and added that it is important for Serbia and for the citizens of Serbia to have electricity and gas at guaranteed prices.
She said that public companies must be much more efficient and much faster, and that we should learn from this energy crisis that it is necessary to prepare for crises, RTS reports.
The Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlovic, stated that the whole world is shaken by the energy crisis, since the fastest post-recession growth in the last 80 years has been recorded, and that the demand for energy is huge.
“I think that the most expensive is the energy that is not there. What is important for Serbia and for the citizens of Serbia is that there is energy, and electricity and gas, and that will be for the citizens at the prices that are guaranteed. What is a serious issue is the issue of prices and the long-term contract and additional quantities and everything that the president mentioned, and that is something that is being negotiated,” Mihajlovic pointed out.
She added that the price of electricity and gas for citizens will remain the same until the end of the heating season, and that EPS will additionally negotiate the prices of electricity for industry.
Zorana Mihajlovic emphasized that we should learn from this energy crisis that it is necessary to prepare for crises.
“Because gas prices did not happen as a shock, they did not happen now, so suddenly we are all lost and we do not know what happened to our gas prices in Europe and the world. Prices started to rise in the spring of this year, related to both gas and electricity. Public companies must be much more efficient and much faster,” said Zorana Mihajlovic.
She added that it was not criticism at her expense, but that the criticism was directed directly at public companies.
“This is a criticism directly of public companies whose obligation was to ensure energy security, and not to slaughter the president afterwards and ask him to negotiate with the president of another state in order to get out of that problem,” Mihajlovic pointed out.
She emphasized that it was known that EPS was entering the repairs and that they should have taken care of how they would replace the electricity in the spring.
Mihajlovic said that public companies submit reports to the Ministry of Economy and that, if everything is allowed to be done by the ministry she heads, then, as she said, we do not need public companies.
“Then let us remove all the directors, let us suck those companies into the Government of the Republic of Serbia, so that we manage those companies, which is also a variant, I have nothing against it, but then we would certainly be more prepared,” said Mihajlovic.
When asked whether the citizens pay the largest guild, Zorana Mihajlovic said that the state pays, because “the state will always provide what is needed for its citizens, without asking for the price”.
“It is a serious question whether the state should constantly stand behind those companies that do not do their job. It is definitely a critique of that, but when the crisis is over, then things should be sorted out and see who should have done what, and not what is whose responsibility, whose it was, if it is considered to be from the ministry,” said Mihajlovic.
She added that it is important to monitor prices now and that it is important to provide sufficient quantities of gas and to see if it is possible to provide some kind of moratorium on gas prices until the end of the heating season, as well as to ensure gas stability.
Speaking about fuel prices, Mihajlovic said that a group would be formed to monitor prices.
“We have to take care of what those excises that we take from one liter of derivatives are used for. Can we stop all that, say we will reduce excise taxes, and then we will not have enough money for some other things after that,” said Zorana Mihajlovic and added that the Ministry of Finance and everyone in that system is considering how to be sustainable.
She pointed out that the most important thing is that Serbia has enough energy and that electricity and gas are a priority for Serbia.
In Dimitrovgrad, 54 households will get their contracts and start replacing the carpentry, and in the next month, it is expected that the replacement, as Mihajlović said, will start in the other 60 municipalities as well.
“It’s one of the very important things, if we’re talking about energy. It will reduce the bills of the citizens, but it will help the state to consume less electricity. If we are consistent, if we set aside money for energy efficiency, we have certainly reduced our consumption of electricity and heat by at least 20 percent in three years,” Zorana Mihajlovic emphasized.
She added that a competition for solar panels has now been announced and that about 40 municipalities have applied for that competition, Vesti Online reports.
