A double blow to the standard of citizens will happen in one day. It has been known for a long time that the price of gas will rise on November 1, and now what has been talked about for months has been confirmed, although it has now turned out that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, gave false hope that this would not happen after all.
From November 1, gas will be ten percent more expensive, and electricity will be eight percent more expensive. As reported by RTS, the Council of the Energy Agency approved the increase in electricity prices, so a kilowatt-hour of electricity for households and small customers will be 10,26 dinars, with VAT 14,29 dinars. This will be the third price increase this year, after January and May.
We knew what was waiting for us
In the report of the International Monetary Fund for Serbia, which was published at the beginning of July, it was stated that the citizens of Serbia are expected from November 1 new electricity price increase by eight percent and gas by 10 percent.
However, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that Serbia will not create an opportunity for other countries to attract more investors, due to the more favorable prices of energy sources, and that if the situation with energy sources remains like this, the next increase in electricity prices agreed with the International Monetary Fund will not be necessary.
"I'm telling you that now, since we won't be fools," said Vučić.
It is not known exactly how the situation with energy sources changed, but a kind of public preparation that the president's announcement would not come true lasted for some time, with the obligatory emphasis that electricity in Serbia is among the cheapest.
Price increase for the future
Thus, the Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Đedović, first said that she hopes that the price of electricity in Serbia, which is among the three cheapest in Europe, will not rise. And then there was a new statement that it is necessary for the price of electricity to rise before the new year.
"The increase in the price of electricity is under negotiation, we think it will be necessary for it to be before the new year." This year, we will try to keep the price of electricity rising as little as possible, but a correction is needed for the sake of the long-term stability of our energy system," Đedović explained at the time.
And the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, said just two weeks ago that there are still discussions with the International Monetary Fund about the increase in electricity prices and that the Government of Serbia will try not to increase prices, or at least to keep them to a minimum.
From her statement, it would be said that the energy situation that President Vučić talked about a few months ago has not changed and that we have enough of everything for electricity production.
"I had another working meeting with the members of the Supervisory Board of EPS, with the Acting General Director of EPS Dušan Živković and with the Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Đedović on preparations for the heating season. We have everything completely prepared for this winter season, there are over 2,1 million tons of coal in our coal dumps. We have additional covered quantities, and daily we mine approximately 100.000 tons of coal from our mines and store them in landfills. In addition, we have additionally covered quantities that go to the port of Constanta or Ploče," she said.
Must for the state
A month before the price of electricity and gas will rise, from October 1, it is certain that the price of fuel will rise, but also all excise goods such as coffee, tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. From October 1st, new, increased excise taxes will apply.
Serbia is already at the top of the list of countries in the region in terms of how much a liter of fuel costs. Experts estimate that the prices of oil derivatives will definitely increase from the first day of October due to the decision of the Government of Serbia to increase the excise duty on Eurodiesel by 4,76 dinars and on gasoline by 4,63 dinars per liter.
It is estimated that fuel in Serbia will most likely increase in retail price for more than six dinars.
Vučić himself says that fuel in Serbia is more expensive compared to the region, and that is because Serbia has the highest excise tax burden on oil, but he also has an explanation and justification for that.
"Why? Because, speaking of which, where among those countries is the cheapest price of electricity? Well, nowhere, it is the lowest in Serbia. Where is the lower price of bread? Well, nowhere. When you look at the prices of milk, eggs and everything else. Therefore, you have to choose something, the state must have its own revenues," said Vučić.
Vučić added that, if advance payments continue to grow in one day, the state will consider what else can be done.
"It will bother us, but we will have to see what the state can do, we are limited by the IMF, we will see how and what we can do about it," concluded the president.
The state action "Better prices" started on September 13, and as part of it, the prices of 36 products were reduced.
On the first day of the action, which will last until December 31, President Vučić had breakfast with Ministers Siniša Mali and Tomislav Momirović, whose price was reduced from 399 dinars to 259 dinars.
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