The Energoinvest company sent a press release regarding the request of the Minister of Communal Economy, Infrastructure, Spatial Planning, Construction and Environmental Protection of Sarajevo Canton, Almir Bečarević, to reduce the price of natural gas by 30 percent.
As this company points out, Bečarević submitted a request to the Federal Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mining and the Ministry of Trade of the FBiH, without stating the market or economic basis.
“Natural gas is an imported resource whose price is primarily influenced by the market price of this energy source on the international market in the same way as the price of liquid fossil fuels is influenced by the price of a barrel of oil, as well as dozens of other imported and stock commodities. Also, when it comes to the price of natural gas for the end customer, it is necessary to know that from the moment of purchase and import of gas by Energoinvest, seven more cost items are calculated on it, of which the biggest cost is VAT, transport costs through BiH by three transporters and costs of the distributor Sarajevogas. To this should be added the impact of the change in the USD/BAM exchange rate difference, banking costs, as well as the necessary corrections based on the calorific value of the delivered gas. The structure of these costs is known and they are legally prescribed or approved by the relevant federal, cantonal and RS Ministries,” Energoinvest announced.
The company states that the cantonal minister’s focus on the alleged high price of Energoinvest’s services is completely flat, because all participants have a significantly higher participation in the price of gas than Energoinvest’s participation, which was clearly demonstrated at joint meetings of the federal and cantonal ministries with participants in the gas business.
“It is an indicative example of the reduction of natural gas prices in the previous quarter, when Energoinvest lowered the price of gas to customers, including Sarajevogas/Toplane, by 9.6 percent, so that these two cantonal companies would reduce prices to end customers by 8.9 percent, i.e. in in the case of Toplana by six percent. In conclusion, the price of natural gas calculated by Energoinvest as a supplier is approved by the FBiH Government based on the submitted request with all calculated items. Therefore, the cantonal minister’s proposal that the Federal Ministry, on its own initiative, make a decision on a drastic and unrealistic reduction in the price of natural gas by 30 percent can only lead to the suspension of gas supply, because it is the legal obligation of all companies in this country, including Energoinvest, not to enter into business arrangements with to pre-known negative and harmful financial outcomes,” it is stated.
In accordance with the above, Energoinvest will submit a proposal to the FBiH Government for the approval of a new real natural gas price this quarter, which begins on April 1, 2023, after receiving the same from Gazprom.
Furthermore, they add that it is necessary to inform the public that even at the current price of natural gas, the energy value, i.e. the price of one kwh obtained from natural gas cheaper than the price of 1kwh of electricity (average tariff 25 percent cheaper), as well as the price of one kwh obtained from liquid fossil fuels.
”The cantonal minister’s remarks about Energoinvest’s business balance sheet are not entirely clear to us. We can only confirm that the business balance sheet of Energoinvest in 2022 is positive, that the revenues shown in the balance sheet, which refer to the domestic market, which is what the cantonal minister is focusing on, mostly refer to business with gas, which is a situation that have been reported in Energoinvest’s balance sheets for dozens of years. We are afraid that the cantonal minister mixed up the concepts of income from profit, i.e. positive balance. Regarding the business balance sheet, we are pleased to remind the minister that Energoinvest is currently successfully implementing business in addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, also in Algeria, Tanzania, Albania and North Macedonia. Therefore, we conclude that it is a conscious intention of the cantonal minister to carry out an attack on Energoinvest, the motives and reasons of which will be clearly known and presented to the public soon,” reads the press release of Energoinvest.
