Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Regional electricity market to be opened by January 1, 2008

Belgrade/Skopje, 17 November 2006

Serbian Minister of Energy and Mining Radomir Naumov emphasised it is very important that the energy community member countries adopt their national action plans for the implementation of the annex on setting up the energy community that envisages the creation of a regional electricity market.

At a ministerial conference of the Energy Community of South East Europe (ECSEE) being held in Skopje, Macedonia, Naumov specified that the annex envisages the opening of the regional electric energy and natural gas market by January 1, 2008, intended for all consumers except for households.

He explained that this means that all industrial and other large consumers in Serbia will become qualified buyers, that is, that they will be able to decide who to purchase electricity and gas from.

According to Naumov, Serbian public companies Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) and Srbijagas will thus become equal participants in the open market and will behave in line with energy market regulations.

The Minister stressed that everything Serbia has done so far is beginning to be realised in practice. This includes the creation of legal frameworks compatible with EU regulations, as well as the preparation of domestic energy companies for the market, their restructuring and implementation of reforms within these companies, said Naumov.

At the ministerial meeting, co-presided by the EU Energy Commissioner Andris Pielbags, special attention was paid to an overview of social implications of contract's implementation. The adoption of a corresponding declaration has also been announced.

Ministers also debated the necessity of intensifying the cooperation between energy community members due to the inevitable improvement in safety measures concerning the delivery of electrical energy and gas in the first place.

The regional energy community was formed on October 25, 2005, and the agreement on its establishment was signed by Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, UNMIK and the European Commission.