engleski

The Role of Entrepreneurs in the District Heating Sector

District heating is an activiy consisting of production, distribution and supplay of thermal energy. Prior to 20I3, production, distribution and supply were regulated activities. Law on the Marlret Thermal Energy (OG 80/13) prescribed that distribution remained regulated activity, while production and supply have become market ąctivities. Thąt enąbled entrepreneurs to get involved in one of these two activities. On the production side, this created an opportunity for new producers thus forsing existing ones to be better under the pressure of competition. There is an opportunity for specialization in the production side through using dfferent types of energy, production of thermąl energy for base or peak load, whereof the cost of produced electricity depends on. Furthermore, on the supply side, better collection of fees and various options of additional services for end users of thermal energy pose represent challenges for existíng suppliers. Because of the potentiąl savings that can be ąchieved by installation of heat cost allocators, the Law on the Market Thermal Energy prescribed obligatory installątion of heat cost allocators, which is ąlso an opportunity for entrepreneurial initiatives. However, such oblĺgations may be reflected negatively ąt the current users. The ąchievements of obligatory installation of heat cost allocators ąre described in this paper. Liberalization of district heating ąnd unbundling activities avoid the possibitiy of subsidizing some of the activities which prevents distortion of value chain, while entrepreneurial behąvior should lead to more competitive prices for end users. As just opening of the market does not necessarily mean increased entrepreneurial activity, becąuse innovation and entrepreneurship depend on other factors, this paper will show experience of liberalization in the two-year period, advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and threats for this system.

AIlocators, District heating, Entrepreneurship, Heat production, Liberąlization

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