The citizens of Banja Luka could be affected by a new wave of price increases, from utilities to small business services. Namely, after the increase in the network fee and the minimum wage, the Chamber of Crafts and Entrepreneurs announces a rise in the price of services by about 10 percent. Requests for increased services were also submitted by the city utility companies Čistoća, Toplane, as well as public city transport.
The year started with higher bills for electricity and water, and other communal services in Banja Luka could soon become more expensive. Heating, garbage collection, public city transport. Utility companies demand a price correction because, they say, business as it currently is not sustainable.
“We asked for 32 percent. Our analysis showed that, and that 32 percent would be a burden on citizens of between 2.5 and 3 BAM per bill including VAT,” says Aleksandar Bajić, director of “Čistoća” Banja Luka.
If their demands are not considered, they announce reduced waste collection. The announcement of a reduced heating energy delivery regime resulted in a meeting between the competent city authorities and representatives of Eko Toplan. Citizens were told that there will be no restrictions, but the 25 percent increase will be discussed at the City Assembly.
“The operating costs of ‘Eko Toplana’ have increased by over 69 percent, and the price has only been raised once, as you know, in 2023 by 22 percent. From that increase until today, ‘Eko Toplana’ has been operating permanently in negative business,” says Dragiša Zečević, member of the Management Board of “Eko Toplana”.
The City Administration says that the City Assembly will give the final word on requests for price increases for communal services at one of the next sessions. If the demands of utility companies are met, it will be a new blow to household budgets.
The city committee of the SNSD, the party that together with its coalition partners makes up the majority in the city parliament, says that it will not support the request for an increase in heating prices and that it is necessary to discuss the work of “Eko Toplan” before any decision, as reports for the year 2024 have not yet been submitted.
“I have to say that we have agreed that the heating must not stop and that at the cost of everything we must ensure that the heating in Banja Luka works and that we do not have this situation of restrictive heating, which has been in effect for the last few days”, points out Ljubo Ninković, President of the Banja Luka City Assembly.
“If we had been asked, we would never have put the citizens in a situation where any utility activity was not fully owned by the City itself. So, we simply found this structure,” emphasizes city manager Mirna Savić Banjac.
On the table of the City Administration is also the transporter’s request for an increase in the prices of public city transport, even though in Banja Luka city transport tickets have long been among the most expensive in the region.
