The cost of electricity imports in the first two months of 2022 were eight times higher than in the same period a year earlier, economist Ivan Nikolic told Belgrade daily Danas.

Nikolic, editor of the Macroeconomic Analyses and Trends (MAT) newsletter, said that 8 million Euro were spent on power imports early this year compared to 10 million Euro in the first two months of 2021. He said the cost was higher because power was imported in winter when prices are higher. The power imports were necessary because of the collapse of the electricity production system late last year when the management of the power company (EPS) failed to secure sufficient quantities of quality coal and oil, causing a drop in production.

He said that the Banatski Dvor natural gas storage facility was almost emptied to secure fuel for the power and heating facilities in Novi Sad while one of the production blocks at the TENT power production plant in Obrenovac was being overhauled. Srbijagas was forced to buy additional quantities of natural gas from the Russian Gazprom but not at the privileged price of 270 USD for 1,000 cubic meters. Nikolic said that Srbijagas paid Gazprom 800 Dollars per 1,000 cubic meters of gas for eight million cubic meters of gas a day or 3.1 million Euro a day.