Montenegro’s state power utility EPCG said household electricity prices have remained unchanged at the active-energy level since 2019, even as its retail customer base expanded and wholesale-market volatility increased, putting greater weight on improved collection and payment discipline to support retail economics.
The company had 415,759 household customers in July 2026, up almost 18% from 352,815 in June 2019.
The number of customers classified as regular payers increased to more than 257,985 from 188,913 over the same period.
That lifted the share of regular-paying households to 62.1% from 53.5%.
For EPCG, the improvement is financially relevant because Montenegro’s retail electricity market remains politically sensitive, limiting the scope for rapid pass-through of higher wholesale and generation costs to households.
The utility said the active-energy component of household tariffs has remained unchanged since June 2019, despite significantly higher European electricity prices during several periods since then.
That places more emphasis on operating efficiency, domestic generation and cash collection.
EPCG also continues to use discounts to encourage customers to pay bills regularly.
The company spent around €4 million on customer discounts between January and July 2026, already more than the roughly €3.6 million allocated during all of 2019.
The combination of stable tariffs and higher discounts would normally put pressure on retail margins, but stronger bill collection reduces receivables and improves cash flow.
That is particularly important for EPCG because the company must simultaneously finance generation maintenance, renewable investment and electricity imports during periods of weak domestic production.
Montenegro’s power balance remains highly exposed to hydrological conditions.
Hydropower normally provides a substantial share of domestic generation, but production falls sharply during dry periods, increasing reliance on the Pljevlja coal-fired power plant and electricity purchases from regional markets.
EPCG said Pljevlja accounted for around 65% of its electricity production during June-August, demonstrating the continuing importance of domestic thermal generation in containing import exposure.
The company estimated that Pljevlja generated around 442 GWh during the three-month period, with output worth more than €51 million.
Replacing that power with purchases on Hungary’s HUPX market would have cost around €57.4 million before cross-border capacity and other costs, according to EPCG.
That comparison illustrates why stable household prices remain closely connected to generation performance.
When hydro and thermal plants produce sufficient electricity, EPCG can limit its exposure to wholesale imports. When domestic output weakens, maintaining regulated or politically constrained retail prices becomes more expensive.
The company’s expanding customer base also increases the scale of that exposure.
Nearly 63,000 additional household customers have been added since 2019, reflecting population movements, housing development and stronger electricity demand.
Montenegro has also recorded repeated summer consumption records as tourism, air conditioning and coastal real-estate development lift seasonal demand.
A larger customer base can increase revenue, but only if bills are collected efficiently.
The increase in regular payers therefore provides a more important indicator of retail quality than customer growth alone.
EPCG has historically carried substantial receivables from households and businesses, making payment discipline a persistent balance-sheet issue.
Earlier 2026 data showed the company had around €175 million in receivables, including more than €112 million from households, with a significant portion of outstanding debt several years old.
Improved current payment behaviour does not eliminate those legacy receivables, but it can stop the problem from expanding further.
The wider challenge is whether EPCG can continue maintaining relatively stable household prices as Montenegro moves towards deeper integration with the European energy market.
EU accession, carbon pricing and investment requirements are likely to increase pressure on electricity-sector economics.
Pljevlja will eventually face higher carbon and environmental costs, while EPCG is financing new wind, solar and storage capacity intended to reduce dependence on coal and imports.
Projects including the Gvozd wind complex will improve the generation mix, but replacing firm thermal output with variable renewables will also require grid investment, balancing capacity and storage.
For households, that means the long period of relatively stable energy charges cannot be viewed independently of the investment required to transform the power system.
For EPCG, stronger payment discipline buys additional financial room.
The rise in regular payers to more than 62% of households strengthens cash collection at a time when the company is simultaneously absorbing retail-price pressure and expanding capital expenditure.
The key test will be whether that improvement is enough to preserve stable retail tariffs as carbon, investment and wholesale-market costs increasingly reshape Montenegro’s electricity system.
