Croatian Electricity Company (HEP) has won tenders in Kraljevo and Valjevo.
After the decision made by Serbian towns of Kraljevo and Valjevo to select the Croatian Electricity Company (HEP) as the winner of tenders for the provision of electricity, HEP’s Serbian counterpart Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) and Serbia’s Ministry on Energy have told the leadership of the two towns that, before the new deals are implemented, they must first repay their debts to the Serbia’s national energy company, the Serbian media announced on Friday, reports Index.hr on November 24, 2017.
“Kraljevo and Valjevo, when it comes to public lighting systems, will not be able to change their supplier until they pay all the debts to the former supplier,” said Serbian Energy Minister Aleksandar Antić. He stressed that the Law on Energy foresaw such a situation and therefore it forbid a change of supplier if the electricity user had not paid all the electricity supply bills to the previous one.
Minister Antić added that it was not true that HEP had already taken over the supply of Kraljevo and Valjevo, explaining that the electricity market was open and that all licensed companies could apply to tenders which are being published by major consumers. In his words, EPS did not lose a single tender for two years after opening of the market, with the exception of public lighting services in Kraljevo and Valjevo, which cannot be realised because the towns owe considerable debts to EPS.
Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) reported that Kraljevo owed about 380,000 euros and Valjevo about 336,000 euros.
The electricity supply market in Serbia has been open for several years, and EPS, as the only supplier in the previous period, has retained 98 percent of the market.
The Serbian Radio Television (RTS) reported that Croatian Electricity Company had recently announced that it was already supplying with electricity one company in Serbia and that it will soon start delivering electricity for two Serbian towns.
A statement released by HEP Energija, a HEP subsidiary, says that electricity is supplied to the Serbian company Cimos and that the company is in the final phase of preparation of provision of electricity supply for Kraljevo and Valjevo as well.
Translated from Index.hr.
