In January we will pay about 150 more dinars and from February 1 we will have a significant increase

Electricity meter, Photo: Hello! / Vladimir Markovic

Electricity prices will rise 3.4 percent on February 1. But before that, already in the bills for January, we will have more than four times the rate for stimulating the production of renewable energy. Due to this concept, the electricity bills will be on average 150 dinars higher.

The rate for renewable energy sources increased from 0.093 dinars per kilowatt-hour consumed to 0.437 dinars. The last change was in 2015, so the government says the increase is necessary because up to seven wind farms have been put into operation since then.

That means that no matter how much the privileged producer produces that electricity, puts it on the grid, EPS pays that amount. Just last year, we are talking about billions of dinars that were paid. It is not even a question of our desire, or whether we want it or not. We will not do it, there is no environment, there is no development of energy and mining if we do not invest much more in what is called the production of electricity from renewable sources ”, explains Zorana Mihajlović, Minister of Mines and Energy.

Although the incentive fee for green kilowatts was introduced seven years ago, it is still unclear to most citizens what they are paying for and where that money is going.

Subsidies for green kilowatts, the so-called “Fidin rates”, were introduced by the European Union at the end of the last century, because such electricity was too expensive. Today, wind and solar energy have largely replaced coal production.

“That honeymoon in incentives through ‘fidin rates’ has already happened in the European Union. And of course, one of the very important aspects of this new incentive market concept is reflected in the fact that the price of capital investments in renewables has dropped significantly. it is three to four times less than ten years ago, “says Miloš Mladenović, CEO of the Serbian power plant” SEPEKS “.

The corresponding ministry says that and Serbia follows that path, but let’s be late. The first step is subsidies, the second is the electricity auction, which introduces competition between producers, which is already a practice in the Union, and only the third is the abolition of incentives.

“We have to develop the renewable energy market, we have to have more renewable energy plants. Somewhere we can hope that maybe in a year, in two or three years, we can practically have that situation and then we can talk about that third step. “. , says Minister Mihajlović.

Meanwhile, we will also obtain the Renewable Energy Law. An additional reason to provide clean energy as soon as possible is the announcement by the European Union that it will introduce sanctions for major polluters.