The Secretariat for the Economy of the Municipality of Pljevlja and the local company Grijanje have not had electricity for twenty days, after the Electric Power Company of Montenegro disconnected the building in the city center where their business premises are located.
This was confirmed to "Vijesta" by the Secretary of the Secretariat for the Economy of the Municipality of Pljevlja, Budimir Bajčetić, and the Director of Heating, Mervan Avdović.
"The premises used by the Secretariat for the Economy have been without electricity for three weeks now, after Elektroprivreda CG disconnected the electricity from the network. This is the second disconnection, and the previous one was in February of this year," said Bajčetić.
Elektroprivreda announced that the electricity was turned off due to a debt of about seven and a half thousand euros, but the municipality does not recognize that debt because it was incurred at a time when the premises were used by the Housing and Business Fund Agency of the municipality of Pljevlja, which is in bankruptcy.
The founder of the Agency is the Municipality, which is also the owner of the premises where the Secretariat for Economy and Heating is located.
"The disputed debt due to which Elektroprivreda turned off the electricity was created by the Housing and Business Fund Agency of the Municipality of Pljevlja, which is in bankruptcy. Elektroprivreda reported that debt or claim in the bankruptcy estate, only for Elektroprivreda to later inform us that the Commercial Court's decision deleted the claim in the amount of 7,5 thousand euros because Elektroprivreda withdrew the claims report", claims the vice-president of the municipality of Pljevlja Jasmin Čelebić.
Čelebić says that Elektroprivreda is trying to collect from the municipality a debt incurred by the Housing and Business Fund Agency, which, he believes, has no legal basis.
"In February, they turned off the electricity. At that time, the debt was in the bankruptcy estate. In March, they initiated the procedure and withdrew their claims from the Agency in court. Now they are trying to attribute that debt to the Municipality. If they think they are right, they should have started the forced collection procedure through bailiffs, but they didn't do it because they know that they probably wouldn't be able to collect the debt that way, given that the debt was incurred during the functioning of the Agency," said Čelebić.
He claims that the Municipality regularly settles its obligations for consumed electricity since the Secretariat for the Economy and the company Grijanja were located in that building, but that they do not have the legal ability to pay the debt incurred by the Agency.
"The municipality cannot pay someone money for no reason, as in this case. All our lawyers believe that there is no reason to do that," Čelebić said.
He says that there is no end or solution to this dispute in sight.
Elektroprivreda confirmed that they have given up their claims at the Commercial Court and that the court notice does not exempt the municipality from payment, because, as they claim, the debt is tied to the owner of the premises.
They also claim that they sent 41 reminders for debt payment to the Municipality of Pljevlja, which, as they state, they duly received and signed.
"When they ignored all those warnings, we created nine orders for disconnection from the Municipality, and we implemented three orders," Elektroprivreda announced.
Bajčetić says that all this time the Secretariat has been working under extraordinary circumstances, and that citizens and businessmen suffer the most because of this disputed situation.
"We receive requests and parties, but we perform the technical part of the work in a reduced manner. In particular, electronic communication with ministries and other municipal and state bodies is disabled. Employees perform the most urgent duties in other municipal premises, which are located in special buildings or houses," said Bajčetić. .
The Director of Heating, Mervan Avdović, says that their electricity was also cut off, but that they "borrowed electricity from a neighbor" in order to be able to function.
"During working hours, we borrow electricity, but only for computer operation and so that we can function. We don't have lighting and other things in the premises," Avdović said.
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