The price increase, which goes into force today, will not be used for development projects because 400 million kuna annually is not sufficient for that purpose, HES leader Dubravko Corak told reporters, adding that the increased prices would only additionally burden consumers.
The union believes that the decision was not made only by the government and the HEP management, but in agreement with some international institutions which are preparing the ground for privatisation and the sale of the HEP's most valuable sectors.
As part of such plans, since July 1 the prices of electricity have gone up also in Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Corak said.
When joining the South-East European Energy Community, Croatia had to sign an agreement which also determines the future of the HEP in the long run, but which does not contain a single sentence about the social dimension of the future processes, Corak said.
Efforts are made to reorganise the power industries of all former Yugoslav republics, except Slovenia, in the same way so that their individual components could be ready for privatisation. The HES has information that some foreign corporations are interested in the purchase of Croatian hydro-power plants, Corak said.
"What is being favoured is one regional player who will be the 'ruler' in the Balkans, and we fear that that will not be the HEP," Corak said.
The union will oppose with all means the breaking up of the company into smaller components and their privatisation, he added.
The union also urged the HEP management to launch by the end of the year talks on an annexe to the collective agreement which would result in an eight-percent increase in employees' salaries.
HES representative Miroslav Matijevic said that if the HEP management failed to meet the union demands, the union could cancel the collective agreement in a month's time and launch a strike.
(1 EUR = 7.37 kuna)