Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic announced a package of measures to reduce the impact of rising energy prices on residential consumers. In the case of price increases, in addition to limiting fuel prices, Croatia will raise subsidies for vulnerable consumers, but stateowned power utility HEP will cover the largest part of subsidized electricity and gas prices.
As a third measure, a reduction of VAT on electricity and natural gas is possible, which currently stand at 13 and 25 %, respectively. PM Plenkovic said that the price of electricity and natural gas for residential consumers will not be increased before 1 April.
He also said that if fuel prices continue to rise, the Government will again introduce price caps for all fuel types, except premium ones. In October 2021, the Government has decided to introduce a cap on the retail prices of petrol and diesel for the next 30 days. According to the decision, the maximum retail price of petrol is capped at 1.48 euros per liter, while the maximum price of diesel is limited at 1.46 euros. The measure was extended by another month in early November and was finally removed in early December.
HEP has recently obtained a 300 million euros loan intended for liquidity and investments, which are planned at record 530 million euros in 2022. The plan will likely be review, because the Government’s support package will not be cheap, given the increased energy prices in the market.
