Djedovic Handanovic: No talk of privatisation of EPS

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic says there will be sufficient energy supplies for small consumers and businesses in 2024 and that there are no plans for electricity and gas price increases this year, and notes that reforms at the national electric power company EPS will be continued and that there is no talk of its privatisation.

Having diversified alternative energy supply sources and routes is one of the goals, especially when it comes to natural gas and crude oil, on whose imports we depend on, the minister told Tanjug.

She said a third new unit at the Kostolac coal-fired power plant was due to be launched in March or April as Serbia's first new power generation facility in almost 40 years.

She said she also expected in 2024 a completion of documentation and talks about financial arrangements to build the Bistrica reversible hydroelectric power plant and a natural gas interconnector with North Macedonia, respectively.

She said there was a really great need for investments in all sectors - from power generation to the gas sector, new gas storage facilities and construction of new gas interconnectors.

Much in that regard was already done in 2023, Djedovic Handanovic said, noting that a Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnector had been completed last year.

"We will be working intensively on preparations for a Serbia-Hungary oil pipeline, which will provide us with an additional supply route, so we will no longer have only the JANAF oil pipeline in Croatia to rely on," she said, noting that, depending on geopolitical situations, difficulties were possible with JANAF.

She said she expected works to build 1 GW of EPS-owned solar power generation capacities to begin in 2024.

Asked if EPS would remain a state-owned enterprise, Djedovic Handanovic responded:

"Absolutely. There has never been a different plan or a different intent by the Government of Serbia or the state leadership at all. That has never been a discussion topic at all... Our goal is to strengthen EPS to make it more efficient and more profitable, more successful and a real regional leader, because it has all the potential for that."