Serbia urged to reduce electricity consumption in the country

MOSCOW, September 5 – PRIME. Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia Zorana Mihajlovic called on government agencies, organizations and citizens to save electricity by 15%, the authorities have already allocated an additional billion euros for the purchase of gas and electricity.

On August 30, the Serbian government set the price of electricity at 95 euros per megawatt-hour, excluding VAT, for the period from September 1 to December 31 for purchasing organizations in the commercial market. For defense enterprises, the price is set at 86.13 euros per megawatt-hour. For citizens, the price of electricity for this period remains the same – 41 euros per megawatt-hour.

“Until now, as a state, we have allocated almost a billion euros for the import of electricity and gas, it is impossible to estimate how much will have to be given before the end of March, prices cannot be predicted. Today, a megawatt-hour costs 400 euros, a few days ago it was 730 euros, who knows how much will cost in December and January, when we import noticeably more summer 4-5% of the total consumption.In order not to give away so much money, we need to reduce costs as a society and the state, which is why we proposed recommendations, soft measures for everyone, but they are a lot this means we can save about 15% of energy,” Mihajlovic is quoted as saying by her press service.

She recalled that all state and municipal institutions must develop and deliver to the Ministry of Energy by September 15 plans to reduce energy costs by 15%. The Ministry of Mining and Energy of Serbia published on August 30 recommendations for energy savings for state, municipal, commercial institutions and households in light of rising prices.

Rational use of lighting is recommended, limiting the operation of decorative lighting, the use of LED devices, replacing window and door openings to increase energy efficiency, installing solar panels, switching from electrical heating appliances to other heating sources, using heat pumps, which should lead to a reduction in energy consumption by 15 % compared to the same period last year.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier that the country’s authorities, due to the global crisis and its impact on energy and food supply, are actually introducing a state of emergency from August 1 to March 31. Vučić himself said on August 30 that he turned off his refrigerator and most of the lights on his floor in the presidential residence in order to save electricity.

The producer of over 50% of the energy in the country is the network of thermal power plants “Nikola Tesla” (TENT) with a maximum annual output of 20 thousand gigawatt-hours produced and 28 million tons of processed lignite from the Kolubara basin.