Electricity, gas markets to be liberalised from January 1

BELGRADE - A full liberalisation of the electricity market, allowing citizens to choose their suppliers in an open market, will begin from the New Year, with the liberalisation of the gas market set to start as well.

Despite the market liberalisation, small electricity consumers will retain the right to guaranteed supplies from the Serbian electric power company EPS at regulated prices set by the Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia (AERS).

EPS Director Aleksandar Obradovic has said that he does not expect rival companies to win over household consumers as the EPS electricity price is 30 percent lower than the market price in the region.

The liberalisation of the Serbian electricity market began in 2012 for high-voltage consumers and in 2013 for medium-voltage consumers.

In the first two stages of the liberalisation of the electricity market, around 97 percent of consumers chose to remain with the EPS, with the results of the third stage to depend on the activities of rival companies.

Aside from the liberalisation of the electricity market, the liberalisation of the gas market for large consumers is also set to start from 2015.

Households and small gas consumers will still have the right to guaranteed supplies, to be provided pursuant to existing contracts.

From 2016, they, too, will be able to choose their suppliers on an open market.

Natural gas distributors in Serbia will also lose the right to guaranteed supplies from January 2015.

Serbia currently has around 260,000 natural gas consumers, 250,000 of whom are households and small consumers.

Under the energy law, small consumers are defined as legal persons and entrepreneurs whose facilities are...