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Friday, March 29, 2024

Golob’s informal staffing: Tomaž Štokelj, the Prime Minister’s wedding witness, is coming to head the HSE

By: C.R., STA

The sparrows on the roof are already chirping that there is a lot of nepotism in Golob’s staffing in the economy. But this does not stop the arrogant Prime Minister.

The supervisory board of Holding Slovenske elektrarne (HSE) has appointed Tomaž Štokelj as the new general manager of the umbrella company of the HSE group, who most recently served as director of strategic portfolio management at Gen-I. The four-year term will begin on Tuesday, the HSE announced.

As Bojan Požar revealed, Štokelj was Robert Golob’s wedding witness, i.e., one of his closest friends.

Štokelj was also mentioned by the media as the most serious candidate for taking over the position, and according to the HSE, he was chosen from several proposed candidates based on a personal invitation from supervisors and a recommendation from an external HR agency.

The first supervisor, Nevenka Hrovatin, wrote that Štokelj, who has worked practically his entire career in the energy sector and “knows the industry inside out”, was unanimously assessed as the most suitable candidate for managing the company.

“We expect that, with his competences and experience, he will significantly contribute to bridging the emergency situation in the field of electricity supply in Slovenia and to maintaining the position of the largest Slovenian producer and one of the leading electricity traders in the region,” her words were summarised by the HSE.

Štokelj started his career as an electrical engineer at Soška Elektrarna Nova Gorica and continued to build on it as a young researcher at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana, where he also obtained a master’s degree and a doctorate.

At the turn of the millennium, according to HSE’s explanations, he participated in the establishment of the electricity market and was in charge of setting up trading in the emerging HSE company. In 2002, he became the Executive Director of Marketing at HSE and was responsible for the sale of electricity and system services, as well as the trading of electricity and other products such as carbon coupons, gases, certificates for renewable energy sources, etc.

He held the position until 2017, during which time he was also the director of several companies opened by HSE abroad for the needs of electricity trading, and a member of the board of directors of the Russe thermal power plant in Bulgaria.

After leaving the HSE, he provided consulting services in the field of the electricity market and efficient energy use, managed projects for companies in the field of energy, and participated in the establishment and management of GGE Italy. Since 2021, he has been employed by the company Gen-I within the Gen Group as director of strategic portfolio management.

When Štokelj was appointed, the HSE noted that the group, as one of the two pillars of the Slovenian energy industry, faces many challenges in the coming period. As stated, these are related to the provision of safe and reliable electricity production in the group’s production facilities, to constructive cooperation in the planning and implementation of national and European strategies to deal with the energy crisis, and to the continuation of initiatives and activities in the field of the green transition.

“The HSE Group must become the bearer of the green transition,” wrote Štokelj upon his appointment, who will succeed Viktor Vračar. On Tuesday, he will take over the management of the Šoštanj Power Plant.

As the first task, Štokelj mentioned ensuring sufficient, reliable, and price-competitive electricity production and uninterrupted supply of Slovenian customers during the energy crisis. He also announced that the HSE Group will play a leading role in the economically and socially just green transition of the energy sector with accelerated investments in renewable energy sources, sources of flexibility and in the development of new services, with the goal of the greatest possible long-term self-sufficiency of the Slovenian electricity system.

With the appointment of Štokelj as head of the HSE, both pillars of the Slovenian energy industry have new leadership. As of November 1st, Dejan Paravan, who previously worked in the management of Gen-I, took over the management of Gen energija as the umbrella company of the Gen group.

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