The price of electricity remains a problem in relations between large companies and Elektroprivreda Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). A concrete example comes from Zenica, where, if no agreement is reached by March 1st, production at Arcelor Mittal could be suspended. The unions warn that this could mean the loss of thousands of jobs.
After a letter was sent to them from the company’s management regarding the possible interruption of electricity supply to Arcelor Mittal, the Union of that company reacted sharply.
”The Union will not sit idly by, 2.300 workers will be on the street, we will start right from here in front of the directorate. Of course, we will be in front of Elektroprivreda and I tell the director of Elektrodistribucija, if he shuts down the company Arcelor Mittal, let him find a job in Elektrodistribucija for 2.300 workers,” said Zuhdija Kapetanovic, president of the Arcelor Mittal Zenica Trade Union.
Namely, like most companies from the real sector, on the recommendation of the Association of Employers, Arcelor Mittal did not accept the offered contract of Elektroprivreda with the new price of electricity, and the contract on reserve supply.
Games of big players at the cost of nerves, but also safe prospects for workers – this is how the Union perceives this situation.
The General Director of Elektroprivreda BiH, Admir Andelija, confirmed in a telephone conversation that certain quantities of electricity were sold on the stock exchange because Arcelor Mittal refused to sign the offered contract. He also says that they have been negotiating with the management for a long time because Arcelor Mittal is their biggest customer, which draws a third of the electricity intended for market supply from the system.
”Every time Arcelor Mittal rejected our offers. Also, they did not submit their plans for 2022 and it is true that we had to sell that amount of electricity in 2022 in order to close the balance and the necessary income of the company. We proposed to address the Government of the Federation, ie the Parliament to approve us to continue production on Unit 4 in Tuzla and Unit 5 in Kakanj, in order to provide additional quantities of some 500 GWh of energy in 2022, and we agreed on that with Mittal,”Andelija explained.
Federal parliamentarians are now on the move and they should comment on the proposal by the end of the month. The management of Arcelor Mittal did not make an announcementyesterday, but it is not excluded that they will use the opportunity to speak about it at the event marked as ”socializing with journalists”.
E.Dz.
Source: Federalna
