Prosumers, or so-called buyers – producers of electricity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will finally be able to charge for excess electricity produced from solar power plants as of August 6, 2025.
Source: solarno.net
The first to exercise this right will be 56 prosumers in the Republic of Srpska. After years of waiting, the Mixed Holding “Elektroprivreda Republika Srpska” has invited them to conclude supply contracts, even though they are not taxpayers, reports Buka.
This possibility arises from the amendments to the Rulebook on the Implementation of the Law on Value Added Tax, published in the “Official Gazette of BiH” No. 25/25 on April 29, 2025, which entered into force on May 7, and applies after 90 days, i.e. from August 6.
By concluding the contract, buyers-producers exercise the right to be billed for electricity under the net metering system. Net metering is a commercial scheme in which excess electricity produced by a buyer-producer is delivered to the grid and transferred as an energy credit to the next billing period, thereby reducing consumption in periods when consumption exceeds production.
The right to net metering and net billing is available to electricity customers throughout the country. Given that the Federation is only just beginning to implement legal provisions relating to prosumers, there is no information yet on how many legal or natural persons have exercised this option.
As for the RS, if the buyers-producers who have so far received permits to be prosumers do not conclude a contract within the given deadline, “ERS” will continue to send them invoices only for the electricity delivered, without the possibility of calculating surpluses from their own production.
Prosumers have been waiting for years
Prosumers are key players in the energy transition because they not only reduce consumption from centralized sources, but also feed the excess energy produced into the grid, thereby contributing to sustainable development. However, although the legal framework and rights to net metering were established several years ago in the RS, and then in the FBiH and the Brčko District, prosumer rights have been violated for years.
As a reminder, the High School Center in Lopare, the first official prosumer since December 2023, has not yet received a contract that would allow it to fairly calculate its excess energy. According to data, about 56 prosumers in the RS face the same problem, while ERS takes over their excess energy and sells it, but does not pay them for it.
The Energy Regulatory Commission of the Republic of Srpska (RERS) has already twice ordered ERS to conclude contracts with prosumers and calculate energy according to the net metering system, and the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH has confirmed that there are no VAT obstacles to this system.
However, ERS refused to act on these orders, citing ambiguities regarding VAT. With these amendments to the Regulation, all obstacles to prosumers receiving their compensation for the electricity they produce have finally been removed.
The right time to build a solar power plant for your own needs
Considering the announcements that in the coming period, the Federation will separate the Elektrodistribucija from the Elektroprivreda system, which will likely affect the new, experts say, significant increase in the price of electricity, now is the right time to become prosumers and produce electricity from your own solar power plant.
“On the one hand, we will have an increase in the price of electricity, and on the other hand, we already have extremely low equipment prices. Households, whose monthly electricity bills range up to 100 KM, need to allocate around 5,000 KM + VAT to build a mini-solar power plant on their roof. These are households that consume an average of 3 kW of electricity. With a large number of credit lines with favorable interest rates, and incentives that will increase in the coming period, the return on investment is up to 5 years, and the lifespan of the solar power plant is 25 years,” says Ekrem Mušić, director of EMT SOLAR.
Compared to Serbia and Montenegro, which already have 2,000 and 4,000 prosumers returning excess energy to the grid, BiH is still at the beginning.
And citizens are very interested in being energy independent.
Research by Operators for Renewable Energy Sources and Efficient Cogeneration (OIEiEK) from last year showed that more than 97% of the FBiH is interested in building solar power plants for their own needs, but that they are hindered by a lack of funds and legal and regulatory framework. Finally, most of these problems have been resolved.