MANS today from the Parliament of Montenegro requested to urgently organize control hearing of the leaders of Regulatory Agency for Energy (RAE) due to the fact that this regulatory body continually makes decisions useful only and exclusively to the energy subjects, to the detriment of citizens.
The latest price increase is the result of a serious illegal decisions of RAE made on the basis of methodologies that are inconsistent with Energy Law which in every scenario protect energy subjects in Montenegro, while at the same time on the citizens is transferred complete burden of mismanagement of the state’s energy system.
MANS previously warned that the leaders of the RAE are driven by profit interests of the Italian partners of the Government of Montenegro, which was one of the conditions for entering of Italian NPSCMN (National Power Supply Company of Montenegro) and Montenegro Transmission System (MNTS), which was never been denied by the RAE.
Numerous decisions by the RAE so far were examined before competent courts, and overturned, which did not represent any obstacle to the RAE to continue with its practice which as a consequence has new, larger impacts on budget of every citizen.
That is a direct consequence of the complete absence of responsibility for the adopted decisions, but primarily passivity of the authority to timely prosecute leaders of the RAE so they can not continue to brutally violate laws and regulations.
Official figures show that only in 2013 decisions of the RAE were cubjects of 12 complaints before the Administrative Court, of which half decisions were annulled. This testifies about the fact how much the RAE is “independent regulator” and the extend to which is valuable to pressure of energy subjects and the Government.
Thanks to such decisions of the RAE, energy subjects during the previous years earned tens of millions of euros, while complete burden of losses and bad management as a rule transfers on the citizens.
In fact, since the entry of A2A in NPSCMN and Terna in MNTS, citizens of Montenegro solely thanks to the RAE’s decisions, which should protect and their interests, today have the “privilege” to pay the most expensive electricity in the region. How unrealistic “calculation” of the RAE is when it comes to the basis for new price increase, witnesses and the fact that Montenegro today because of APP does not have deficit in electricity, and the NPSCMN for a long time produces more than is needed for domestic demand and on that basis realizes substantial profit that keeps only for itself.
If responsibility of the RAE’s leaders is not individualized for continued practice of making harmful decisions, it is expected that the Government will, in partnership with A2A, continue to steal money from citizens and to increase the price of electricity.
We believe that the Parliament in this case must make full use of its control function and give the maximum contribution to protect the public interest in the energy sector in Montenegro.
MANS
