Minister: EPS Management is to Blame for Current Energy Crisis

Zorana Mihajlovic (BETAPHOTO/MINISTRY OF MINING AND ENERGY/ZORAN PETROVIC/MO)

Serbia's Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said on Dec. 15 that the country's current power shortage was caused by the management of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), the state-owned power company, adding that once the crisis is over an inquiry will be made into who exactly is responsible.

In an interview for the RTS public service, Mihajlovic stated that 30 percent of EPS systems are currently out of commission, leaving without power some 260 substations -- and about 9,000 customers.

Mihajlovic conceded that the heavy snowfall over the weekend qualified as "a natural disaster" and objectively contributed to the outages, stating that the entire power supply network required "much greater investments" and that "all actions have consequences." On the other hand, the minister pointed out that the country's power utility company was operating at 70 percent capacity, compromising the entire power system. "The system is very fragile, we're amidst a crisis, things are unresolved, and once [the crisis] is over we shall see who in the chain [of command] created the problem," Mihajlovic promised.

During a late-night session of Cabinet on Dec. 14, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that "the entire EPS system fell through because management didn't pay attention to how wet the coal was and how much damage mud could cause to all six blocs" of the Nikola Tesla Power Plant -- leaving, among others, the city of Obrenovac without power.

Vucic further stated that, over the previous 72 hours, Serbia had imported vast amounts of power, but that as of Monday Dec. 20 the domestic network should be able to provide enough energy for the entire country, "save for some minor shortages when it gets [very] cold."