The Energy and Water Regulatory Agency of Montenegro (REGAGEN)

REGAGEN has been established in 2004 and has regulated water services since 2017. It is an autonomous, non-profit organisation that is legally and functionally independent from the state authorities. It employs ~39 people with an Annual Budget of 211.674,81€ for water.

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The Energy and Water Regulatory Agency of Montenegro (REGAGEN)

REGAGEN has been established in 2004 and has regulated water services since 2017. It is an autonomous, non-profit organisation that is legally and functionally independent from the state authorities. It employs ~39 people with an Annual Budget of 211.674,81€ for water.

You can find this data and the country profiles of all the 25 WAREG Members in our Water Governance Report (2021).

As the Regulatory Authority for water, REGAGEN’s main responsibilities are:

  • to issue, change and revoke licenses for performing communal activities;
  • to supervise the work and performance of operators according to the conditions set in their licenses;
  • to implement benchmarking;
  • to issue by-laws (such as Rules on Licencing and Benchmarking, Tariff Methodology and Quality Standards);
  • to give consent to the price list of operators;
  • to prepare and submit the annual report on regulated water services to the Parliament of Montenegro.

REGAGEN has no jurisdiction to monitor the level of compliance with EU Directives and Regulations in the drinking water and wastewater sector.

The main legislations on the water sector of Montenegro are the following ones:

  • The Law on Utility Services;
  • The Law on Local Government;
  • The Water Law;
  • The Law on Water Management Financing;
  • The Law on Urban Wastewater Management;
  • The Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Structures; and
  • The Law on Providing Healthy Water for Human Use

Institutional Framework
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management is responsible for developing policy in water management and protection of water from pollution.
The Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism is responsible for wastewater management, utility services and coordinating regional water supply systems.

The Ministry of Health is responsible for the health and safety of water for human consumption, giving opinions on its safety.

Local governments regulate and ensure the performance and development of utility services, and maintenance of communal facilities, and prescribe in more detail the conditions and manner of providing water supply and wastewater management services to local operators.

Country profile

  • Area: 13.812 km2
  • Population: 620.000 people
  • Population density: 44.88 inh/Km2
  • GDP per capita: 8.760,70 (Current US$ 2018)
  • Water and sanitation services
  • Number of operators of drinking water and/or sanitation services: 25
  • Percentage of households served: 85% of the population
  • Abstracted water volume: Approx. 130.000.000
  • Wastewater volume collected: Approx. 20.000.000
  • Average per capita consumption: 170 l per capita per day
  • Sector Turnover: around 58.000.000 €
  • Average service price by m3: average price of water supply 0,70 € for households
  • Number of employees: 8 employees/1.000 costumers

Tariff setting

  1. Who approves tariffs and at which level (regulator/local/regional/State-Ministry/company/etc.)?
    The operator determines tariffs then the regulator approves them and after it, the local government gives the final approval.
  2. What is the methodology used to set tariffs (ex. which are the variables to take into consideration)?
    Tariff Methodology set by Regulatory agency. It is based on the cost coverage principle, taking into consideration OPEX, depreciation, investment maintenance, and loan repayment cost (interest).