ZAGREB, 26 August, 2022 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who on Thursday said that Croatian households are paying ten times lower prices of electricity than the market price, explained on Friday that before the war in Ukraine, a megawatt hour of electricity cost €57, only to now rise to nearly €600 on the market.
This means that the price of electricity supplies bought on the market by the state-run HEP power provider is tenfold higher than last year, while households are still paying the electricity bills as if electricity prices had not gone up, and this exemption of households from paying the market price is owing to the political decision of the Croatian government, Plenković said in Rijeka today.
Being a state-run company, HEP will have to take a lot of burden on its shoulders, he added.
The concept of the government's relief measures will distinguish three categories, the PM said.
It is important to make sure that energy bills for households will not become untenable for them. We have been making efforts to this end for several months, he added.
The second category will be electricity users in the public and nongovernmental sectors, such as pre-school institutions, schools, colleges, hospitals, and civil society associations.
"As for the third category, the enterprise sector, we will make a difference between small, medium-sized, and big companies. It is not the same to provide aid to a hairdresser or shoemaker or to assist a big company such as INA," said the premier.
Therefore he underscored the importance of calibrating a set of measures aimed at alleviating the situation caused by energy price hikes.
