HEP will provide 50 million kuna in credit funds for entrepreneurs investing in zones

During the next year, 117 entrepreneurial zones that do not have or have only partially resolved the issue of connection to the electricity grid should address this problem more easily and with financial support from the Ministry of Economy and Hrvatska elektroprivreda, announced today Minister of Economy Branko Vukelić and CEO of HEP Ivan Mravak.

Vukelić and Mravak have signed an Agreement on the simplified process of connecting entrepreneurial zones and companies within them to the electricity grid. The Ministry of Economy has so far co-financed the construction of 285 entrepreneurial zones, of which 168 have resolved the issue of connection to the electricity grid, but 85 have not resolved it at all, and 32 zones are partially resolved, meaning they have problems financing the electricity connection. Based on the Agreement signed today, the Ministry and HEP will be involved in financing, so for all zones and entrepreneurs within them, the connection fee per kilowatt of engaged power will be equal – 1,350 kuna per kilowatt – regardless of the actual connection price, which has so far varied (considering the distance of the zone from existing built systems or other circumstances).

The difference to the actual connection price will be financed from the Ministry’s incentive funds and from HEP’s profits. There is also a possibility of a kind of crediting for entrepreneurs investing in zones, so they could agree with HEP that the contribution for connection is not paid all at once, as before, but rather paid monthly through electricity bills over a certain period. We want to enable entrepreneurs at the start, when they usually have higher costs, not to have to pay immediately one million, or even 1.5 million kuna for connection to the grid, but to do so over a longer period through electricity bills, explains Minister Vukelić. He also emphasizes that the organizers of entrepreneurial zones, i.e., municipalities and cities, will no longer need to invest their own funds for connecting zones to the electricity grid from the Ministry’s incentive system, but will bridge the time when investors, entrepreneurs will start connecting with the guarantee instrument.

HEP will thus conclude contracts with municipalities and cities where zones are being built regarding mutual relations and financing, which will also regulate the rights and obligations of HEP in case of investing its own funds, and whose return is secured based on the connection agreement with users, i.e., entrepreneurs in the zone. For the upcoming period, HEP currently plans to secure 50 million kuna in credit funds, emphasized Mravak. The exact cost, adds Vukelić, will only be known when the actual situation on the ground is determined, and by the end of September, it should be defined which zones are involved. Vukelić assessed that the entrepreneurial zone project is going exceptionally well, that in the period from 2004 to 2007, the Ministry allocated 323 million kuna for their co-financing. Currently, 130 zones are operational, with about 1,320 active companies employing a total of 19,200 people, and about 400 entrepreneurs are in the process of obtaining permits. (H)