In addition to the privatization of Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), the privatization of Sun and wind is also planned

Our largest public company, Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), is ready to fall as a prey to godfathers robbery. EPS became a joint-stock company overnight, which opened a way for the inflow of private capital through partnership recapitalization or strategic partnerships.

The privatization plan was made by “Norwegian consultants,” who got the job without any tender, immediately after the destruction of this company by Milorad Grčić and the party leadership. During his leadership, EPS was destroyed, Serbia imported too much electricity, and the damage done to the company and its citizens is measured in billions of euros. Then, EPS became a joint-stock company from a public company overnight, so that parts of the company could be sold through direct trade, and all business moves, decisions, and spending of money would be hidden from the public.

President Vučić announced the sale of shares, saying: “We have no problem if someone wants to enter with 10 percent ownership. However, 10% of a destroyed company is not the same as 10% of a successful company, and that is the reason why Grčić was brought in to make electricity from mud. The value of EPS was reduced 5–6 times after the selection of these frames! And now, with the selection of new personnel, EPS is being prepared for privatization.

A big job and a valuable contract are in store for the mysterious firm UGT Renewables LLC, which deals with the construction of plants in the field of renewable energy sources and has emerged as a major player without any tender or in any competition with other players from the country and abroad. We pose a clear question to the Ministry of Energy: How many permits have been issued so far for the construction of new wind farms and solar power plants? And which of those companies are connected to Vučić’s godfather, Nikola “McClarren” Petrović, who is already a well-known owner of MHE (mini hydroelectric crane) in Serbia?

It is interesting, as they say further in Zajedno, that it was Nikola Petrović who was the director of the Electric Network of Serbia, i.e., he was at the place where decisions are made about the connection of new producers of electricity from renewable sources. And many small producers have been waiting for this solution for a long time, and in years of great electricity deficits, they still do not get the requested connections to the network.

“When we add to this the information that the government has adopted a new bill on renewable energy sources that will help large, private, and godfather producers of electricity from renewable sources, while individual households (consumers) as well as the association of citizens in energy cooperatives will be intentionally restrained and placed in an unequal position, we arrive at an obvious recipe: The planned privatization of EPS will be carried out under the facade of green, renewable energy sources. A large Producers who already have godfather agreements and contracts with the state will get work, while small individual producers will be hindered.

And the citizens will then pay those tycoon producers kW of electricity at a high, preferential price. The same actors and the same scenario exist as in the case of mini-hydroelectric power plants, only now they have switched to new sources, the sun and wind. Therefore, the planned privatization of EPS is not only the privatization of a public company; the right to the sun and wind will also be privatized. And we must remind the government that the sun, wind, and water belong to all of us, not to the godfathers, and that we will fight for that right.