The price of gas in BiH is among the highest in Europe. This had led to a drop by half in the number of customers over the past 11 years. (Photo: CIN)

By: The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN)

The same decision decreased the price for shippers as well. Hence, Sarajevogas and smaller suppliers will pay 500 KM for 1000 cubic meters of gas instead of 550 KM.

BH Gas officials announced that the price to distributors has decreased for 33.8 percent and to industrial consumers around 46 percent since the beginning of 2015.

Nevertheless, the decrease in local prices still lags behind low The FBiH government and its ministries of trade and energy still need to approve the agreement. In the beginning of the year, the energy minister Nermin Džindić announced the appointment of the new Supervisory Board and is adamant to decrease the bloated prices.

According to Gazprom Export’s data, the price of Russian gas decreased around 48 percent during this period. In the begging of the year, BiH paid 318 KM for 1000 cubic meters, while its companies charged consumers up to 700 KM. During 2014, there had been a huge discrepancy between the buying and selling price that BH Gas charged local consumers.

CIN has already written on the subject and showed how local firms paid nearly 40 percent more for gas than their counterparts in the neighboring countries and the EU. The customers shoulder the public companies’ burden: unpaid bills; harmful contracts on the transport of natural gas; bad investments and fees paid to go-betweens as well as for gas bills never paid during the 1992-1995 war.

Gas is a commodity bought and sold at the stock exchanges. Currently, 1,000 cubic meters of gas is sold at Viennese stock exchange for around 250 KM.