Serbia, The price of a megawatt jumps to 102.6 euros

Published on 26. December 2022., News

Electricity prices for the economy in January will increase by eight percent, i.e. they will amount to 102.6 euros per megawatt-hour, and entrepreneurs have already received a proposal for a supply contract from the Electric Power Company of Serbia with that amount, Danas learned from well-informed sources.

The fact that new electricity price increases, both for households and for the economy, will be effective in 2023 is not a surprise because something like that has already been announced. Namely, it is known that the Government of Serbia signed an arrangement with the International Monetary Fund under which it undertook to increase the price of electricity twice in the coming year and once again in 2024. What, on the other hand, somewhat surprised the professional public is that the increase in the price of electricity for the economy will follow so quickly.

It is quite certain that entrepreneurs will react negatively to the new increase in the price of electricity, and as every time something like this happens, the public fears that it will lead to a new increase in the prices of products and services, i.e. increase inflation and reduce the already low standard of living of citizens. Serbia. The profession says that there is not the slightest doubt that this will happen and that the inflationary impact will be much stronger than what the authorities predict.

Economist Goran Radosavljević tells Danas that the new electricity price hike is not a surprise for the economy considering that such a possibility was hinted.

– It is inevitable that the increase in the price of electricity for the economy affects the growth of consumer prices as well as increases the inflation rate. Something like that should be expected this time as well. That there will be an increase in prices is not a surprise considering that Serbia committed itself to such steps by signing a new arrangement with the IMF – explains our interlocutor.

He adds that it is completely clear that the Government of Serbia, with this move, intends for the consequences of inefficiency in the work of Elektroprivreda Srbije to be compensated by consumers through the payment of higher bills for the use of electricity.

– The problem with such a way of thinking is that low electricity prices were not the reason for EPS’s inefficient operations. Even before, EPS had a low selling price of electricity, but that did not prevent it from making a profit. Accordingly, it is clearly seen that consumers are the ones who will pay the toll of the bad business policy of that company, which suffered losses due to irresponsible management – points out Radosavljević.

The president of the Movement for Consumer Protection of Serbia, Petar Bogosavljević, tells Danas that he is surprised by the fact that after the increase in electricity prices for households from January 1, they will also increase when it comes to the economy.

– Honestly, I was hoping that the practice of raising prices would be stopped after it was announced that from the New Year prices would go up for households. Obviously, the orientation to continue with it is not given up and the epilogue is new higher prices for the economy. This is certainly bad for the interests of consumers, considering that any increase in electricity prices for the economy is reflected in the prices of its products and services. It will be the same this time. Prices will increase and we will face a new inflationary blow that will be much more intense than the Government and the National Bank of Serbia claim. The epilogue is that in this way the standard of living and purchasing power of consumers will be further reduced – says our interlocutor.

As a reminder, the last time electricity for the economy went up on September 1, and since then its price is 95 euros per megawatt hour. At that moment, it represented a price increase of about 27 percent, Danas writes.

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