Marković: electricity won’t get more expensive before the elections, but it will come in due course — drought cut hydropower output

Energy expert Željko Marković, a member of the Association of Energy Experts (Savez energetičara), says he does not believe the price of electricity for households in Serbia will rise before the snap parliamentary elections of October 25 and the winter season, but that the increase “will come in due course,” as the Serbian magazine Nedeljnik reports.

As Marković explains to Nedeljnik, hydropower plants in Serbia produced less electricity this year because of the drought, while the imported energy bought to cover the shortfall was purchased at higher prices than the current tariffs paid by domestic consumers.

According to him, this difference will have to be absorbed by Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), the public electricity company.

The price of electricity is a politically sensitive topic in Serbia ahead of the October 25 elections; the expert assesses that no tariff moves are expected before the winter season, but the pressure on them grows afterwards.

Marković concludes that the issue of the electricity price will return to the agenda after the winter season.