Belgrade Heating Awaits Approval, Wood Up to 11,700 Dinars

Two days before October 1, the date from which JKP “Beogradske elektrane” (Belgrade Heating Plants) wants new heat prices to apply, the decision on consent has still not been published. The company sent the city’s Energy Secretariat a request for the 2026/2027 heating season, and the new price list will take effect only once its founder, the City of Belgrade, gives consent and the decision appears in the “Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade.” By the time we finished this text, we had found no published consent.

The company’s Supervisory Board adopted the proposal on August 26. The last increase in heat prices in Belgrade was approved on October 1, 2025, according to Beogradske elektrane.

What changes in a Belgrade heating bill?

The proposal does not raise every item equally: for customers billed by consumption, one part falls and another rises. All prices exclude VAT:

• the variable part (energy) for residential space falls from 8.21 to 7.76 dinars per kilowatt-hour, and for commercial space from 10.02 to 9.46 dinars, a drop of 5.57% in both cases
• the fixed part (capacity) rises for all users from 6,350.58 to 7,494.86 dinars per kilowatt a year, an increase of 18.02%
• billing by heated floor area for residential space rises from 1,679.35 to 1,837.89 dinars per square meter a year, or 9.44%
• for commercial space the price rises from 17,287.80 to 18,931.39 dinars per kilowatt a year, or 9.51%
• hot water consumed becomes 10% more expensive for all customers

The company also says the unit price per square meter for residential space is based on average consumption of 136 kWh per square meter. As an example, take a 60-square-meter apartment billed by area: the annual amount would rise from 100,761 to 110,273 dinars before VAT, roughly 9,512 dinars more.

How did other cities fare?

Belgrade is not the only city with a request pending. Nis has already given its consent: the City Council approved the decision of JKP “Gradska toplana,” so the fixed part rises from 42.74 to 49.44 dinars per square meter, and the variable part from 7.15 to 7.19 dinars per kilowatt-hour. The overall increase of 4.5%, as reported by Juzne vesti, applies to the bill as a whole. The reasons given were energy costs on the market and the rise in the minimum wage. The price in Nis has already changed this year: in April the variable part went up from 7.12 to 7.57 dinars because of the higher gas price, and in May it fell to 7.15.

In Stara Pazova the heating plant submitted its request on August 31, and in Velika Plana on September 1, so the local government still has to make the final decision. Subotica, Krusevac, Majdanpek and Zrenjanin enter the season without price increases. In Majdanpek wood chips have become about 10% more expensive, but the local government covers the difference, and in Zrenjanin the price has not changed since 2023.

How much do firewood, pellets and coal cost?

Anyone who left buying firewood until the end of September pays more than those who bought in spring and summer. At Belgrade lumberyards beech, oak and Turkey oak cost from 10,500 to 11,700 dinars per cubic meter, pellets from 42,000 to 48,000 dinars per ton, Pljevlja coal about 21,000, and coal from Stanari about 19,500 dinars per ton. Briquettes, according to listings, most often sell for 35,000 to 40,000 dinars per ton.

Sasa Petrovic, owner of one of the larger lumberyards in Belgrade, told Kurir Biznis that there are customers, but no crowds:

There are no crowds, there are buyers, and demand for heating fuel is normal for this time of year. Pellets are in somewhat higher demand, although there is enough of them for now.

For firewood, he said the price depends on what is being bought, and that the most expensive option includes delivery to the customer:

The price of wood is from 10,500 to 11,700 per cubic meter, and it all depends on what you buy. Beech that is, say, split and ready for burning costs 11,700 per cubic meter.

On pellets, which his lumberyard offers in about 20 varieties, from domestic to imported, he says:

The price of pellets is from 42,000 to 48,000 dinars per ton. Depending on the size of the heated area, people buy from two to 10 pallets. There are also those who buy larger quantities to make sure they have it for the whole heating season.

Where is firewood cheaper than in Belgrade?

Inland Serbia offers cheaper firewood, but not cheaper pellets. In Kraljevo a cubic meter ranged from 6,500 to 10,000 dinars in early September. In Prokuplje, cut and split wood cost about 8,500 dinars in the same period, and about 9,200 when sold by the pallet. Vojvodina is closer to Belgrade: in Subotica in mid-September a cubic meter cost from 10,500 to 11,000, and in Sombor about 11,000 dinars.

Pellets sell at similar prices across the country. Kurir cites a range of 37,000 to 48,000 dinars per ton, although in Prokuplje in early September a ton cost 28,000 to 30,000 dinars. RTS recorded 38,000 to 44,000 dinars in August, and in Sombor on September 11 the price was 48,000 dinars, about 20% more than at the end of the previous heating season. Professor Branko Glavonjic of the Faculty of Forestry told Nova ekonomija at the end of August that pellet prices had reached their highest level since the fuel began selling in earnest in Serbia, and named heavy demand in a short period as the main problem.

Alo reports Bosnian lignite in Subotica at about 18,500 and Banovici coal at about 23,000 dinars per ton, and for Kraljevo a range of 14,000 to 28,000 dinars. One Belgrade lumberyard offers Stavalj coal for about 22,000, Banovici and dried Vreoci for about 24,000, and Resavica for about 30,000 dinars per ton.

For comparing cost-effectiveness there is an older calculation by the Energy Agency of Serbia, but for the 2025/2026 season: for an averagely insulated 60-square-meter apartment, the cheapest heating came to about 53,000 dinars with firewood, about 76,000 with pellets and about 77,700 with coal. The agency has not yet published new calculations for 2026/2027, so those figures cannot be carried over to this winter.