After the ruling Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) had said as recently as in October that people need not worry about the new network charging system, even they realised in mid-November that this would not be the case. The Prime Minister began to express his indignation and, in the role of a saviour, announced that the government had taken “several measures to alleviate the high electricity bills during the winter season.” But, despite their promises, this is clearly not the case in practice!
Our editorial office was contacted by one of Nova24TV’s outraged viewers who was hit by a much higher self-supply electricity bill as a December “surprise”. If the electricity bill was still 21.28 euros in October, the November bill is, if you can believe it, as high as 87.28 euros.
If we focus on the October electricity bill and look at the total amount that had to be paid for network consumption, we can see an amount of 15.46 euros. In November, the amount increased noticeably, to 69.56 euros! It is no wonder that the amount of the last bill was much higher than the previous one – by 66 euros.
It is difficult to understand how it is possible that the electricity bill has risen to such an extent, when only a short time ago the government ranks were saying that there was nothing to worry about!? Obviously, the government’s promises were completely empty. Despite the fact that the Prime Minister made it clear in November that anyone who thought that the government would allow people’s electricity bills to rise by 30 percent was wrong.
“The coalition is united in working for the good of the people. It has adopted decisions to extend electricity price regulation for the next four months in order to prevent the increase in network charges from having an impact on the final cost people pay for their electricity supply,” Golob said, according to the media outlet N1. He announced that the increase in network charges would be neutralised by lower energy prices.
At the time, it was explained that the government did not have the power to interfere with the new billing system adopted by the Energy Agency of the Republic of Slovenia, and that since the latter insisted on it, electricity prices had been affected. “The network charge will rise by exactly what the Agency has predicted. The government will make sure that it keeps the overall price at the same level by regulating the other elements of the tariff,” Golob explained. As the amount is visibly higher, people’s anger at the sight of such bills is more than justified – many might even describe it as a daylight robbery!
One cannot help but wonder whether such amounts are really of any concern to the Prime Minister himself. Especially since last month, when people asked him when they could do their laundry, he replied: “For those of you who are worried about doing it at night because you don’t want to disturb the neighbours, it’s about the same price if you do it over the weekend. You’ll save just the same. So, there is no need to do it at night – let the neighbours sleep in and you can do it over the
weekend, during the day, and you’ll all be happy.” This answer, of course, upset many people, especially families. Where there are several children, especially young children, such advice is, of course, completely unrealistic, not to mention a huge step backwards that results in the exact opposite of living more leisurely.
We have decided to send a press question to the government, asking how it is possible that such price rises have come about, even though they promised citizens that this would not be the case. We will also ask if they actually intend to do anything to reduce the amount of bills for the citizens. When we receive a reply, we will publish it.
S. K.
