The Union of Municipalities of Montenegro (ZOCG) and the Regulatory Agency for Energy and Regulated Utilities have agreed on activities aimed at preventing price increases for water services (water supply and sewerage), which may occur as a result of changes to the Branch Collective Agreement (GKU) for housing and utilities.
This is stated, among other things, in the press release of ZOCG, in which they explained that at the meeting initiated by the Regulatory Agency, ZOCG Secretary General Mišela Manojlović and Agency Council member Miroslav Vukčević agreed that "it is necessary to hold a meeting with the presidents of municipalities and the relevant minister at which the possibilities of subsidizing water and sewage companies would be considered, in order to avoid an increase in service prices".
According to them, the changes to the GKU have increased the coefficients of job complexity.
"Which as a result can lead to an increase in the prices of water services by an average of about 30 percent, while in some municipalities the prices could rise up to several times. The practice is that the Regulatory Agency, based on the experience of the previous year, makes changes to the Methodology for determining prices at the latest until April 1 of the current year, in order to be applied in the following year," they added.
As stated by ZOCG, Manojlović informed the representatives of the Regulatory Agency that the Association of Municipalities submitted to the Constitutional Court an initiative for the evaluation of the legality of this GKU, and it will be considered as a priority.
She pointed out that the Community plans to form a working group to analyze the Methodology for determining prices and proposed that the Regulatory Agency appoints its representative
"Reminding that the Community of Municipalities has a permanent call for lecturers for the trainings it provides to municipalities and their companies, Manojlović proposed that the representatives of the Regulatory Agency apply for the call in order to organize training for the application of the Pricing Methodology", they concluded.
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