Citizens of Serbia pay more for electricity than residents of 13 European countries, despite government claims that prices are among the lowest on the continent and will remain so even after the 6.6 percent increase scheduled for October 1, according to a report by Radar.
When all fees and taxes are included, electricity is cheaper in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania, as well as in Poland, Lithuania, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, and Turkey.
Official Eurostat data put Serbia’s average price at 8.79 eurocents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). However, economist Dragovan Milićević argues that the real cost is much higher once excise duties, VAT, renewable energy charges, and other fees are added. His calculations show that households actually pay between 12.4 and 18.3 eurocents per kWh, depending on consumption levels.
Milićević notes that most consumers fall into the mid-range category, using between 300 and 1,500 kWh per month, where the actual cost is around 50 percent higher than the official Eurostat figure. Even without the public service fee, Serbian households pay more than consumers in Slovakia, Denmark, Finland, and all former Yugoslav republics.
As a result, Serbians are effectively paying higher electricity prices than citizens of wealthier countries like Sweden and Norway, whose per capita GDP is more than four to six times higher than Serbia’s.
