Mine and Thermal Power Plant /RiTE/ “Ugljevik”, together with “Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska” /ERS/, will honor the payment of the obligation based on the arbitration ruling with the Slovenians, and therefore it is not time to increase expenditures in ERS, said the general director of this company, Luka Petrović , emphasizing that, despite all the challenges, electricity will remain the cheapest in the RS.
“From the legal actions of Ugljevik on the one hand and the holding of Slovenian power plants on the other, which lasted for nine years, we have to deliver a third of the electricity at a certain price from Ugljevik to the Slovenians and pay the principal of 67 million euros,” stated Petrović.
He pointed out that these are the problems that burden ERS, stating that the arbitration proceedings against RiTE “Ugljevik” have already been completed and the verdict has been passed.
“If we do not comply, we will have to pay a much higher price that we will not be able to pay, not even the Republika Srpska, and that is why we must be alert and concentrate on solving the two decisions that the Arbitration Council in Belgrade ruled,” Petrović said.
He pointed out that ERS will respect those decisions.
“We have to present it, and that’s why it’s not time to increase ERS expenditures,” Petrović noted.
Petrović pointed out that ERS must also present investments in the coal purification plant at the Thermal Power Plant in Gacko, as well as continue with investments such as the hydroelectric plants “Dabar”, “Bistrica”, “Mrsovo” and the solar power plant with the Hungarians in Trebinje.
“Those investments in new energy facilities are needed in order to have new kilowatt-hours and maintain a permanently cheap price of electricity,” explained Petrović.
He emphasized that ERS is still doing well as a company, although it is pressed by various problems which, he says, have existed before and will exist in the future, adding that ERS will develop and that bright decades are ahead of this company.
Slovenians previously sued RiTE “Ugljevik” before the Arbitration Council in Belgrade for non-delivered electricity from 2011 until the decision of that court.
The verdict handed down by the Arbitration Council in Belgrade refers to an obligation that arose during the time of the former SFRY, when there was an agreement on pooling the work and resources of the state at that time, Srna reports.
