Vucic: National power system collapsed

ALEKSANDAR VUCIC
Tanjug/Miloš Milivojević

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Tuesday warned the national power and gas companies that they would be held accountable for the collapse of the country’s energy system because of the bad weather over the past few days.

Speaking at an open session of the government, Vucic called the CEO of the Serbian power company (EPS) Milorad Grcic to “react accordingly” and warned that the people responsible for the power problems will be held accountable. Grcic is a ranking official of Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

State-controlled media reported late on Monday night that the government would hold a special session open to the public with the president.

Opposition leader Marinika Tepic told N1 that the open government session was a performance by President Vucic and his puppets, adding that her Party of Freedom and Justice had been warning of the crisis in the national energy industry for years.

Vucic said that the authorities are having to spend huge amounts of money to import electricity and natural gas. He said that the power grid company (EMS) worked perfectly during the stormy weather but that the distribution system operator had problems because of the snow and strong winds. He also ordered the power company to cut household electricity bills in areas where power cuts were reported.

According to Vucic, the entire energy system experienced problems because the EPS used wet coal in its thermal power plants, leaving Obrenovac without heating and forcing the government to import huge amounts of power. “The financial reaction was quick but the damageis huge,” he said.

Vucic also criticized Srbijagas CEO Dusan Bajatovic (an official of the SNS coalition partner Socialist Party of Serbia or SPS), saying that natural gas storage facilities were not expanded on time and for using stored gas.

The Serbian President said that the authorities are planning to buy as many power facilities in neighboring countries as possible to ensure the country’s power supplies.

Vucic said that the countries of the region are monitoring Serbia’s progress and growing economic power and do not want things to move forward as quickly as they do, especially in terms of the military growing stronger. “Zagreb, Pristina and parts of political Sarajevo are expressing dissatisfacton over this,” he said.

Energy and Mining Minister Zoran Mihajlovic told the cabinet meeting that the current situation could continue for another month prompting Vucic to tell the EPS managers to resolve the situation within a week.

National Bank of Serbia Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic told the meeting that the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS), Srbijagas and EPS spent more than half a billion Euro on imports since October and are set to spend another 250 million Euro this month.