The extent to which laws on energy, and especially energy from renewable sources, are not aligned with the needs of citizens and the economy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is shown by the example of entrepreneur Kadir Djonlagic from Prijedor, a city in the northwest of BiH.
He and his wife Borka have been running a family transport company in Switzerland for decades.
In recent years, they have built an ethno-village, not far from Prijedor, with the profits from that work. Djonlagic, with the help of his family, runs both companies from the offices in the ethno- village, where sometimes more than 30 employees worked.
“We have been struggling with electricity for six years. We have solved the private houses, but not the ethno-village,” says fifty-eight-year-old Djonlagic, whose monthly electricity bills in the ethno-village amount to between 2,500 and 3,000 BAM (1,250-1,500 euros).
The problem for Djonlagic family would be solved by the construction of a new substation, worth 50,000 BAM (26,000 euros).
The public company Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two BiH entities, is asking them to finance the construction themselves, but for the substation to be owned by Elektroprivreda.
The identical practice is applied by two Elektroprivreda companies in another entity, the Federation of BiH (FBiH).
Both entities in BiH have had laws on renewable energy sources since 2013.
With those laws, the authorities prescribed that, with each electricity bill, consumers must pay two BAM (one euro) of fees for renewable energy sources.
At that time, entity operators for renewable energy sources were also established, through which the money from the collected fees was channeled into the pockets of several dozen investors.
Professor Mirza Kusljugic, the doctor of electrical engineering and expert in renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, says that the energy transition is inevitable and that “we must prepare and take advantage of the opportunities it offers”.
He explains that citizens today choose whether to take advantage of the opportunity and benefit from the energy transition or to observe it passively and pay the cost, as in the case of the infamous transition of the economy from public to private ownership, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
