The solar panels were only in trial operation

The Regulatory Agency for Energy (RAE) reaches for manipulations when it comes to connecting solar panels to the distribution system, and it is surprising that it did not show similar zeal in cases of connecting illegal facilities, of which there are tens of thousands in Montenegro, especially since they are among such facilities and some facilities that are in the function of economic activities.

This was announced by Elektroprivreda (EPCG) and "EPCG Solar gradnja" (ESG) after "Vijesti" announced yesterday that RAE in the Report on the State of the Energy Sector for last year determined that unknown persons employed in "Solar gradnja" had illegally connected electricity "buyers-producers" to the distribution network, which is why the Agency filed a criminal complaint with the Basic State Prosecutor's Office (ODT) in Podgorica in February of this year due to the existence of a well-founded suspicion that a criminal offense has been committed, for which it is being prosecuted ex officio.

The agency clarifies that it obtained this information by asking CEDIS in January of this year to provide it with data on the total delivered and received energy at the customer-producer connection point and on the total produced electricity at the connection point of electricity production installations and installations for electricity consumption by customers-producers in 2023.

"In the aforementioned report, a very bold claim is made, according to which "unknown persons, employees of 'Solari gradnja', last year illegally connected 'buyers-producers' of electricity to the distribution network", which is why RAE filed a criminal complaint with ODT Podgorica. We cannot say that we are surprised by RAE's statement, because this is certainly not the first time that unfounded accusations have been made against us from that address, but for the sake of the public, we are obliged to clarify what it is actually about, all the more before we, precisely through the projects "Solari 3000+ and 500+" and "Solari 5000+", enabled citizens to realize significant benefits. No less important, our business decisions have influenced that the standards of our customers, citizens, are not compromised. On the other hand, the Regulatory Agency has never shown such sensitivity for the citizens of the country in which it operates. Let's go in order. First, when it comes to the allegations about connection, it was not about that, but about putting it into trial operation. After the delivery and installation of photovoltaic systems, they were put into trial operation on the basis of a certificate of technical safety and correctness. "EPCG and ESG cannot influence the dynamics of the connection of photovoltaic systems (FNS), which is under the competence of CEDIS and which exclusively depends on their capacities and business activities," state the energy companies.

They further point out that CEDIS, however, has a shortage of people employed in this sector, so it cannot fully monitor the dynamics of the construction of solar power plants, and considering that it is a trial operation, no invoices have been issued to customers-consumers for the installation and delivery to FNS, which means that no one was harmed in the given process.

"RAE is well aware of this, so the question arises, why is it resorting to manipulations?" Second, when it comes to numbers, information about the amount of electricity delivered to the grid is obtained by CEDIS based on meter readings. CEDIS has its control meter installed on a very small number of power plants, so it cannot in any case have reliable information about the production of power plants. It can only have an estimate. Because the information that CEDIS receives about the amount of electricity produced is only given based on insights from power plants that are connected to the net, where there is online access, which means that it is not the total electricity produced by solar power plants. In order to gain insight into the total production, an assessment had to be made based on the total connected power and on the power of the power plants that were online at that moment. In the meantime, the number of measurable power plants has increased significantly, but production estimation still needs to be done. Article 96, paragraph 3 of the Act on Energy also allows such a thing. This is also well known to the RAE, so the question arises again as to why it is resorting to manipulations. Third, it is surprising that the Regulatory Agency did not show similar zeal in cases of connection of illegal facilities, of which there are tens of thousands in Montenegro, especially since among such facilities are also some facilities that are used for economic activities. Why?", the energy companies point out.

Why RAE acts in favor of privileged producers

As stated by both EPCG and ESG in the past, before they started to implement the projects "Solari 3000+ and 500+" and "Solari 5000+", the income from the production of power plants was achieved only by privileged producers.

"Citizens of Montenegro also felt the benefit of our projects, i.e. installation at customer-producers. Obviously that bothers someone. In this regard, one should ask whether RAE, with such statements, is suggesting that the income from these power plants should have been reserved for privileged producers? Why is it problematic that EPCG and citizens, buyers-producers, realize benefits based on the installation of solar power plants? What kind of message does that send? Which is why RAE continuously acts in favor of privileged producers, and against the interests of the citizens of Montenegro", state companies state.

They said that they respect everyone's right to work according to their beliefs, but, appreciating the importance of EPCG for the economic system of Montenegro, we will always and unconditionally respond to any unfounded attack.

"Because our job is to successfully run the company built by generations of our ancestors and pass it on to future generations in the best condition possible. In this particular case, we proudly continue projects that bring benefits to our system and the citizens of Montenegro. After all, something like that is also recognized as a good model by respectable international factors. We understand that such a thing cannot be understood by those who think from today to tomorrow, but for us, you understand, the general interest is always above all particularisms", said the energy companies.