If the state had allowed more investment in infrastructure, especially in high-voltage overhead lines, the damage would have been less severe and fewer people would have been without power, Bojan Luskovec, the boss of electricity distributor Elektro Gorenjska, told the STA.

Many power lines had been built 30 or 40 years ago, but since their life span is about 30 years they are starting to fall into disrepair. In order to properly maintain the network, about 3% of the power lines ought to be replaced annually, he said.

"This is possible, but there are problems with financing." The power distributors have drawn up plans which project an increase in investments, but they lack 30-40% of the required funding, which amounts to EUR 1.62bn through 2022.

According to Luskovec, in order to finance the maintenance the network fee, which has been unchanged for a decade, should be raised.

Moreover, in recent years the government has been creaming off the profit of the state-owned distributors, violating an unwritten rule that profit is reinvested.

"Elektro Gorenjska pays the state EUR 1.4m in dividends, which is enough to lay 50 kilometres of cable," he said.

Luskovec hopes the aftermath of the ice storm will "convince the authorities to drop the dismissive attitude" towards the power grid.