The Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kemal Ademović, warned today that Bosnia and Herzegovina is suffering serious economic losses due to the failure to adopt the Law on the Regulator, Transmission and Market of Electricity, stating that this is a regulation that has been blocked in the House of Peoples of the BiH PA for a long time.
At a press conference in Sarajevo, held after a meeting with representatives of small producers of electricity from renewable sources, Ademović said that the law had not been discussed several times due to the lack of a quorum, but also political disagreements regarding the seat of the future electricity exchange.
As he explained, the Council of Ministers of BiH proposed that the exchange be headquartered in Mostar, while the House of Representatives of the BiH PA adopted an amendment according to which the seat would be in Brčko.
“Dragan Čović has said several times that he will not allow the adoption of such a law, and that is why the law is blocked in the House of Peoples,” said Ademović, adding that he will discuss the topic again at the collegium of the House of Peoples.
According to him, the failure to adopt the law directly affects the domestic economy and exporters of electricity from renewable sources, because, as he said, Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have a mechanism for issuing the necessary certificates for exporting energy to the European Union market.
“The law envisages the formation of an agency that would issue certificates, so that our producers would not have additional burdens when exporting,” said Ademović, alluding to the European Union’s CBAM mechanism.
The President of the Buy and Use Domestic Association, Admir Kapo, assessed that the failure to adopt the law causes multiple damage to the renewable energy sector and the entire economy of BiH.
According to him, more than 2,500 renewable energy plants with a total capacity of around 1,500 megawatts have been installed in BiH so far, in which approximately three billion BAM has been invested.
“This is an amount of energy greater than the production of two thermal power plants in Tuzla, and due to the lack of a law, all this energy is treated as dirty energy when exported,” said Kapo.
He added that by adopting the law and establishing a certification system, Bosnia and Herzegovina could earn up to half a billion BAM annually.
“Based on the existing capacities alone, we are losing around half a billion BAM annually. This year and next, they mean a potential loss of one billion BAM,” Kapo warned.
He also pointed out that there are currently requests for the construction of additional capacities from renewable sources of more than 20,000 megawatts, which, as he stated, could bring investments worth tens of billions of BAM.
Kapo said that the issue of the location of the electricity exchange should not be more important than the economic consequences suffered by the economy and investors.
“It is less important whether the exchange will be in Brčko or Mostar than the fact of what Bosnia and Herzegovina is losing every day due to the failure to adopt the law,” Kapo said.
He recalled that Bosnia and Herzegovina has committed to the European Union that by 2030, almost half of the energy produced will come from renewable sources, and emphasized that the state must create a regulatory framework that will enable the normal operations of domestic energy producers.
