Energy will not flood insurance companies - After all, Kolubara was not insured, only dredge machines totaled EUR 70 mil?

(Flooded Kolubara open pit mines)

The open pit mines Kolubara were not insured in case of floods so the state and its citizens will compensate for the damage. The fact that the situation will develop this way became clear after today’s meeting where the Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, answered to a member Zoran Zivkovic from Nova stranka (New party) after he accused him for the mistakes in the insurance field.

- Kolubara and TENT are not insured because the General Manager, from the party from whose list you were elected to be a member, did not want to sign an insurance policy. On March 1, 2012, he left out the compensation damage in case of floods and therefore today we are facing a huge problem. I hope the person will be interrogated. I am not planning to blame on him for wanting this kind of misfortune but the fact is that due to that kind of irresponsibility we lost tenths million euros – Vucic said.

Zivkovic was not satisfied with the answer and he said he did not know which man Vucic was talking about when it comes to insurance but the one who came after could check the insurance.

- The way you counted business cars and paper clips after the shift in government, you could have checked the insurance policies as well – Zivkovic said.

Total damage the natural disasters caused to Serbia, according to the Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vucic, will total some billion euros. The state will manage to compensate only the fifth of the amount through funds coming from everywhere. When it comes to the rest of the amount, the citizens will have to put a lot of efforts.

If it is known that in Serbia insurance in case of floods is a rare thing since the insurance in case of floods, currents and high water deposits is considered to be an additional property insurance, citizens’ fear of how they will compensate for the damage is not surprising.

However, we cannot help but wonder, how smart did the state play and whether it insured it public companies?

According to the officials, agriculture and energy suffered the most severe floods consequences. In the beginning already, it became clear that fight against floods was at the same time the fight to preserve the energy system in Serbia. The thermal power plant, Nikola Tesla (TENT) and the Mine Basin Kolubara suffered the most severe consequences and damage on power transformer station in Serbia cannot be neglected either.

Damage on energy facilities will be measured in millions and how much insurance companies will compensate for the damage to these companies seems to be a million-dollar question! Or, at least the answer is worth that amount.

As Wiener Stadtische yesterday announced, by May 29, the EPS companies insured at Wiener Stadtische insurance (through consortium with Uniqa osiguranje),submitted nine compensation requests totaling RSD 122.100.000. As representatives in Wiener say, these requests referring to localities of Bajina Basta, Kragujevac, Smederevo and Veliki Crljeni, will be handled by EPS when essential documentation is submitted.

Apart from that, Wiener Stadtische and Uniqa osiguranje insured a part of Obrenovac-based thermal power plant,Nikola Tesla (TENT) Obrenovac and the thermal power plant and pit mines Kostolac, which barely avoided the Sava, the Mlava and the Kolubara and suffered huge damage.

The consortium insured Elektrodistribucija Kragujevac and the Lim-Drina hydro power plants Bajina Bašta and the insurance covers all the risks including damage in case of floods.

The fact that no one wanted to announce this week is the answer whether Kolubara was insured. And, if it was, what did the insurance cover? Whether and where dredge machines, for instance, totaling EUR 70 mil were insured?

It is now becoming clear they were not but the guilty one is not familiar yet. And, if it is known that citizens will cover a few million euros damage,it is obvious that someone made a serious mistake.

EDB insured, damage in Obrenovac-based section undergoes estimation

Damage on the EDB facilities is still undergoing estimation, the deputy General Manager of Elektrodistribucija Beograd, Miomir Kosutic, said but he also added that it is definite it is an amount of millions of euros.

- The damage is not only in Obrenovac-based business premises. There is a number of flooded power transformer stations both in Obrenvac and Rakovica, Resnik and other places and its amount will be defined later – Kosutic said after touring the damaged EDB section in Obrenovac with partners from the insurance company DDOR, the distribution announced.

In Obrenovac and the region, he added, at the moment, 22 power transformer stations were flooded and one cannot enter there. The announcement states that EDB is one of the rare companies which insured its property.

Jelena Djelic