(Podgorica, 8 April 2012) – Next week MANS plans to submit criminal charges against former and current members of the Regulatory Agency for Energy (RAE) under suspicion that they have continuously abused their power, extending the interests of the energy lobby and associated figures, instead of working in the interests of citizens.
RAE officials are seeking to once again increase the fees paid by citizens by approving an electricity price hike requested by the Electric Power Company of Montenegro (EPCG) and Montenegrin Electric Distribution (Prenos).
In so far as the RAE approves this request and validates the claim that a price increase is necessary in order to increase the so-called regulatory revenue, that is the EPCG’s profits and those of Prenos, the citizens will once again have to pay from their pockets in order to enrich EPCG’s owners and their partners.
Let’s not forget that the price of electricity was already increased once this year and not because of the poor electro-energy situation, which was justified by the high price of importing electricity from abroad, though in fact the item on the bill that was increased was linked to losses on the distribution network.
The Constitutional and Administrative courts have already ruled that the RAE has adopted illegal decisions in the past, enabling similar manipulations with the price of electricity. However, such rulings are obviously being ignored and no one bears the consequences for such violations of the law.
The Constitutional Court concluded that the decision of the RAE is illegal and anti-Constitutional, that citizens are paying more for electricity bills due to so-called technical and commercial losses. At the same time, there are no investments made into the distribution network, while tens of millions of euros are being held in the First Bank (Prva Banka) in order to maintain its liquidity.
MANS has asked the Administrative Court to annul the RAE’s decision to increase prices in January, while it has asked that the Constitutional Court to reverse the latest methodology established by the RAE to calculate electricity prices (which would lead to yet another increase).
This is particularly important given that the responsible state institutions should investigate whether or not the members of the RAE were motivated by EPCG to adopt such decisions, given that they constantly benefit the later’s monopoly contrary to the law and the public interest.
MANS will request an investigation into whether or not they have violated the Law on Energy, particularly the part that bans conflicts of interest, given that out of the eight of the former and current members of the RAE only one doesn’t have shares in the EPCG or connected firms. Such behavior indicates that they have a direct interest in the EPCG’s business dealings and its increasing profits.
For such illegal behavior, members of the RAE are well paid (well above the Montenegrin average), receiving a little less than €1-million during the past 6 years.
This could all help explain why they seem to care more about the EPCG than the public interest and observing the law. The RAE has never made public the agreements signed for electricity imports, which are worth some €200-million over the past four years according to MANS.
MANS has been claiming since the beginning of the year and the first protests against the electricity price hikes that the members of the RAE are working illegally, which has a direct impact on the price of electricity (as well as the profits earned by EPCG at the expense of citizens). In the meantime, the Government of Montenegro, as the majority owner of the EPCG has remained deaf to the demands of a large number of citizens requesting that the increases be reconsidered and that the legality of the RAE be investigated.
MANS calls on the State Prosecutor to finally turn its back to the private and political party interests of the ruling elite and their strategic partners and eventual begin to realize what its primary function should be – the protection of the public interest.
