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SARAJEVO, February 2 (FENA) - Based on the Energy Community Treaty and the requirements of the Internal Market Directive, the Federation of BiH is awaiting the start of restructuring of the electricity sector.
This will be officially possible after the House of Peoples of the Federation of BiH Parliament approves the Power Sector Restructuring Program, which was approved by the House of Representatives this week.
The first activity will be the formation of a distribution system operator, that is, the legal and managerial separation of the distribution activities from other electricity industries (production, supply, trade) within the electricity companies.
FBiH Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Nermin Džindić told FENA that the essence of this process is the separation of distribution as a network activity that represents a monopoly from other activities for which competition is possible.
“This obligation will be fulfilled by having the electricity companies register companies for distribution activity that will be owned by them. These new companies will, in accordance with the directive, have a high degree of autonomy and be independent in terms of business management, organization and decision making, with respect to the electricity companies as owners. The essence of these provisions is to prevent any distortion of competition, that is, to enable network services to be used by all suppliers on the market on equal terms,” explained Džindić.
Other electricity industries are market-based, that is, "open to competition and final prices are not regulated".
“The exception is supply to households and low voltage customers for which tariffs are approved by the regulator. Therefore, unlike distribution, the directive does not impose any separation obligations for these activities,” Džindić emphasized.
Due to the above mentioned, the Program has chosen the approach that models of reorganization should not be overestimated for these activities, especially with regard to legal separation, but that detailed analyzes should be made first and appropriate decisions made on the basis of them.
“This also applies to the mining activity, which is related to the long-term status of thermal power plants and coal utilization plans. Plans that will set BiH's goals in the global processes of decarbonisation and transformation of the electricity sector, especially the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) that BiH must adopt based on the decisions of the Energy Community Treaty and the Paris Agreement, will be of particular importance,” FBiH Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Nermin Džindić said for FENA.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has signed the Treaty establishing the Energy Community, which has been in force since 1 July 2006. It envisages the obligation to take over and implement the acquis communautaire which, inter alia, relates to the electricity market.
The main objective of the energy community, from the aspect of the electricity market, is to create a stable and unified regulatory framework and market space that ensures reliable supply of electricity and can attract investment.
(FENA) A. B.
