The statement from the Montenegrin state-owned power utility EPCG said that coronavirus pandemic has slowed the economy and negatively affected the energy sector, where there has been a drop in electricity consumption and instability in prices on exchanges. The business results were also affected by the extremely bad hydrological situation in the first nine months of the year.
In the first nine months of 2020 EPCG recorded revenues of 218.74 million euros, which is by 24.2 million euros lower compared to the same period last year. At the same time, the company’s expenditures reached 220 million euros, 8.5 million less than in the first nine months of 2019.
Namely, the deficit of precipitation significantly affected the business result of the company. Despite the good readiness and stable functioning of production facilities, one of the main factors of poorer results compared to the previous year is lower production due to poorer hydrology. HPP Perucica achieved a production of 347,048 MWh of electricity in the first nine months of 2020, which is 33 % less than in the same period in 2019. HPP Piva achieved a production of 449,176 MWh, which is 16 % less than the production realized during the same period last year.
In the first nine months of 2020, EPCG generated lower revenues from the sales of electricity to consumers. Electricity consumption amounted to 1,628 GWh, which is 9 % less compared to the same period in 2019, which contributed to lower revenues by 14.16 million euros. Compared to the same period last year, EPCG had an additional cost by introducing new environmental taxes at the state and local level. In the first nine months, EPCG had an additional cost compared to the previous year based on CO2 emission allowances, as well as increased costs of excise duty on coal in the amount of more than 8 million euros.
