Dražen Jakšić, director of the Hrvoje Požar Energy Institute, told HRT on Saturday that energy prices on international markets are significantly higher.
– Now they amount to around 500 euros per MWh, in the last quarter they are going towards 650. In this period last year, it was 100 euros per megawatt/hour on the stock exchanges. That significant increase spills over to consumers. Part of the cost increase is also borne by energy companies, suppliers, first of all HEP because it has the largest share on the market, part is transferred to households – but so far on a small scale, about 20 percent, and the business sector is the most affected because it has commercial contracts with two up to four times higher prices, he pointed out.
He said that an increase in energy prices in the fall is quite certain.
– Suppliers can amortize the impact to some extent, but they cannot sell energy at a lower price than they purchase it. This is not sustainable and will lead to problems. The way in which the increased cost will be spread between households, entrepreneurs, the energy sector or the state budget will depend on the measures that the Government will adopt. The fact is that we meet 50 percent of our energy needs from abroad and we have to pay for them in some way. Whether it will be through increased costs of electricity and gas in households or through increased prices of goods and services can be discussed – he stressed.