January the 26th, 2025 – All Croatian households are set to get smart metres for electricity in a massive 86.5 million euro investment.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, by the end of 2029, HEP will install smart metres for electricity in all Croatian households in the country. Down in Dalmatia, electricity is the primary energy source – both for heating during winter and cooling during summer. Residents of Makarska Ulica (Street) in Split ended up without electricity for a short time last week, as this part of Žnjan is currently in line for the installation of the new smart metres.
“What happens is we briefly disconnect the building and then change people’s metres. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes for each one and that’s it,” explained Dujam Grgat from Elektrodalmacija Split.
From now on, their bills will arrive for exactly as many kilowatts and power as they actually used last month. There will be no more estimates made.
“I’m not really familiar with smart metres but it seems as if there will be better control and everything. It’s more realistic because when you pay regularly every month, it’s also fairer to only be paying for what you truly did use. This way, the monthly bill comes and you pay it, and that’s it. They’ve already had our money in spades,” said the citizens of the aforementioned street when asked for their views.
Older citizens may miss the red light as a signal of cheaper electricity, but the more favourable tariff has not disappeared with the introduction of smart metres in all Croatian households.
“In order to make it easier for consumers to monitor, they will receive monthly bills instead of those old advance ones, and six-monthly calculations. For us, this affects the rationalisation of our business, reducing losses in the network and making it easier to find possible thefts in the system”, explained Ivo Babić, assistant director of Elektrodalmacija Split.
So far, 36 percent of electricity metres have been replaced with smart metres across the country, and Elektrodalmacija has been the one to carry the swap out in 40 percent of households on its territory. The plan is for smart metres to be installed in all Croatian households in five years. It’s also important to note that this modernisation is free for consumers. They just need to pay their bills regularly.