Expert Believes Electricity Prices Will Not Go Up Before Elections, but Will Eventually

EPS (BETAPHOTO/ AMIR HAMZAGIC)

Due to this year’s droughts, electricity generation from hydropower plants in Serbia was lower, so electricity had to be imported at prices higher than current household rates, meaning that the state power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) will have to compensate for the price difference, Zeljko Markovic, an energy expert and a member of the Association of Energy Specialist, said on Sept. 29. Markovic added he believes that there will be no electricity price hikes before the upcoming snap elections and the heating season.

Speaking to BETA, Markovic said that despite the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on increasing electricity prices in October, EPS has not yet submitted a request for changing household rates. It is “probably because of the election,” he noted, adding that the question is whether EPS will submit the request before the heating season (officially starting on Oct. 15). He added that the household electricity tariff is now lower than the generation cost of EPS’ “mix”, which also includes imported electricity, so EPS will have to compensate for the difference and prices will go up eventually. 

Asked whether Serbia can export renewable electricity after the introduction of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on Jan. 1, 2026 (CBAM), without paying the levy, Markovic said that some renewable electricity producers can export electricity if they can prove that electricity is generated from green sources, but that this does not apply to EPS because it also operates thermal power plants. 

Obtaining guarantees of origin for green electricity, according to him, is not a simple procedure, because there are a number of conditions and rules for an importer in the EU to avoid paying the levy. Markovic also said that Serbia “basically does not have much electricity for export, because the average annual balance of export and import is usually zero.” He explained that “in the years when hydrological conditions were favorable, EPS could export electricity, but in recent years, the company has been mainly importing electricity.”