The CEO of Srbijagas, Dusan Bajatovic, has argued that he is seriously considering reducing the costs of introducing gas into households as the most environmentally friendly energy source.
He said that if the government and the local self-governments whose taxes also raise the gasification process support the idea, the price could be around 650 euros. The current average price ranges from 700 to 1,000 euros, depending on the distributor. Bajatovic, however, did not mention the price reduction of the energy source, which only arrives in Serbia from Russia via Srbijagas, and because of which the height of gas has not been used in the last ten years by many who have a connection, at least not for heating, because they have cheaper solid fuel.
Although Srbijagas itself is reaching households as end consumers, there are many more intermediaries, distributors who build the network locally and pass gas to customers, so reducing the connection price would be a burden for them. According to Danica Nedic, director of the Public Company Srem gas and president of the Professional Association of Natural Gas Distributors, the connection price is based on the methodology established by the Energy Agency, which finally gives its consent to the distributor’s bill.
– This is calculated according to the formula, and depends on the network construction at a certain location, as well as on whether the mechanical works are performed by a distributor or another company that it hires. Otherwise, distributors occasionally give discounts to new customers at their own expense, and often new customers are offered special benefits. At one point, for example, Subotica offered free connections, somewhere the price for introducing gas in a certain period halves, someone gives the option of paying installments or reprogramming to pay that initial amount during the summer when consumption is lower – says Nedic for Danas, adding that distributors have an interest in increasing the number of users, but that this also depends on the available capacity of these companies.
Otherwise, according to some estimates, in Serbia, gas is used by about 250,000 households or 10 percent of the total, so increasing the number of customers taken from the group of those who use solid fuel would be beneficial for the environment.
However, the question is how realistic the expectations are that this will happen quickly, because in the cities where the network exists, the interested parties have so far had enough time to prepare some expansion without significant reduction of gas prices before and this should not be expected.
On the other hand, there are too many environments where gas has not arrived, so the expectation that this will happen quickly is unrealistic, and it is more about wanting to show how the government cares about citizens, their environment and personal standard, than it would significantly affect increasing gas users, Danas reports.
