Bosnia and Herzegovina illegally extends lifetimes of deadly coal plants, 25 March 2022

...[T]he Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH)’s Parliament adopted changes to the Law on Electrical Energy allowing the FBIH government to limit electricity price rises for companies if a price rise of more than 20 per cent is expected compared to the previous year...

While undoubtedly motivated by real needs to shield certain consumers from the Europe-wide energy crisis caused by high gas prices and consequently high electricity prices this winter, the decision was taken in haste without any attempt to identify which companies would be most affected by price rises...

...Elektroprivreda BIH wrote to the Federal Prime Minister saying that it wouldn’t be able to break even after this decision. As a solution, Elektroprivreda BIH made two alternative proposals. The first was to use the electricity allocated for sale to ArcelorMittal Zenica for sale elsewhere at a higher price, and the second was to extend the lifetime of the Tuzla 4 and Kakanj 5 coal units...

Instead of adjusting the hastily-made decisions limiting electricity price rises for companies, first the House of Representatives...and then the House of Peoples...accepted the government’s proposals, irrespective of the law and people’s health, despite being warned by civil society organisations and the Energy Community Secretariat that the move was illegal...