Heating season starts on October 15. Whether the radiators will really be warm depends on the weather. Portal N1 checked firewood prices in cities across Serbia.
Due to mild winters in the past two years, less firewood was bought, and some households have stocks from last year. When it comes to firewood, dinner it varies from city to city, the type of wood, but also how much trouble the owners will put in when the wood arrives - that is, whether they will pay for transportation, hire workers to chop wood, and the like.
Beograd
Central heating in Belgrade has risen in price by 8,9 percent since November, that is, from 132,8 to 144,6 dinars per square meter.
A cubic meter of wood at the warehouses in Belgrade costs about 7.000 dinars.
Pellets per ton start at 24.000 dinars and up, depending on the quality.
Kragujevac and Leskovac
Central heating in Kragujevac is 121,15 dinars per square meter (fixed part 55,50 while variable part is 65,65 dinars).
The price of firewood in this city ranges from 7.000 to 8.000 dinars per cubic meter.
The price of pellets, depending on the quality, is from 28.000 to 38.000 dinars per ton.
The price of Bosnian charcoal is 18.000 dinars, and the price of sacks is 20.000 dinars per ton.
A ton of brown angle is 19.000 dinars, and sacks are 21.000 dinars per ton.
Resavica coal costs 25.000 dinars, and bags cost 27.000 dinars per ton.
In Leskovac, a cubic meter of beech wood costs less than 6.000 dinars.
Vojvodina
The highest heating prices in Vojvodina are in Novi Sad.
The Novi Sad heating plant enters the new heating season with old prices. The price of district heating per square meter is 127,5 dinars.
For citizens and business consumers whose price is calculated according to consumption, the price is 7,7 dinars per kilowatt-hour. These prices are the result of two price increases in just six months - in December 2022 and in February 2023.
As for the price of gas in Novi Sad, it has not changed since last year, so a kilowatt-hour costs 5,02 dinars.
The prices of firewood start at RSD 6.000 per cubic meter, and the price depends on the type of wood.
Pre-cut or split wood, ready for burning, is more expensive and costs around 10.500 dinars per meter. Pellets cost from 28.000 dinars to 32.000 dinars per ton, depending on the manufacturer and quantity. Briquettes are 32.000 dinars per ton. Coal ranges from 16.000 to 24.000 dinars.
In Sombor, cut wood costs about 9.000 dinars per cubic meter (last year it was about 100 euros). A ton of pellets is about 30.000 dinars.
In Subotica, it is even cheaper - a cubic meter of cut wood is from 7.500 to 8.000 dinars. The price of corner is from 17.000 to 23.000 dinars per ton.
Uncertainty about energy supplies marked the beginning of the heating season two years ago. The reason was the outbreak of war in Ukraine, which affected the market with extremely high prices and shortages. Citizens raced to get a meter of wood and a ton of pellets without asking how much they cost.
Half of Serbia is heated with wood
Energy expert Miodrag Kapor he said earlier for "Vreme" that, according to the latest data, even 50 percent of the population of Serbia uses firewood as a primary energy source.
"The prices of firewood were much more favorable compared to electricity. However, in the last two or three years, the price of wood has also increased significantly", claims Kapor.
However, there are certain complications here. If the value of firewood rises sharply, citizens will return to heating with electricity.
"This puts pressure on the power grid, and if it happens in periods when electricity consumption is the highest, then there are big losses on the power grid," he explains.
He adds that these losses in Serbia are currently above the European average, amounting to about 14 percent of the total energy produced, while in Europe that percentage is much lower, usually five to six percent.
What pays off the most?
The choice of the primary energy source to be used for heating purposes is largely influenced by which part of Serbia the household is located in, which building is in question, as well as whether the thermal insulation of the building is of good quality.
"It is worthwhile, where there are conditions, to install solar panels and heat pumps. When they opt for this kind of heating system, citizens must be prepared for slightly higher fixed costs at the beginning, but in the long term it pays off significantly", says Kapor.
He adds that within the Ministry of Mining and Energy there are initiatives to subsidize households for the construction of better thermal insulation.
