Electricity Prize Game

By December, Kosovo citizens will no longer pay their excessive electricity bills at 3.5 per cent, which is considered paid for citizens of the northern part of Kosovo.

But no further than April of next year, the Electricity Regulatory Office ( ZRGE warns that there may be 20 percent of electricity price if it continues with the import of electricity.

About 8m euros are estimated for the value of electricity for 2016, which was not run by citizens of four northern Kosovo municipalities, and the same had been billed to citizens of other parts of Kosovo.

The northern Kosovo municipalities are inhabited by the Serb majority.

Adelina Murtezaj, spokeswoman in ZRE, told Radio Free Europe, that they have informed energy operators to implement the decisions of the Court of Appeals in Pristina, to cancel the preliminary decision regarding bills for citizens of northern municipalities.

Because of the court's decision, which specifys that the northern losses should not be calculated on consumer bills, the ZRE has announced to operators that the losses incurred in the north of the country no longer be counted on consumer bills. And it has informed them that according to ZRE's estimate, this impact on the bill is about 3.5 percent”, Murtezaj said.

Otherwise, for this problem, the Ombudsman, in April of this year, had initiated investigations by sending the subject to court as well. And the Court of Appeals has ruled that the Electric Energy Regulatory Office suspends the decision that the current spent on that part is billed for citizens of other regions.

Representatives of civil society consider the decision positive, but not enough.

Dardan Abazi, researcher at the Institute for Development Policy, INDEP says ZRE has to clarify consumers why without their knowledge they have paid off the energy spent on citizens of the northern part of Kosovo.

For more citizens have not been informed about this payment, since the bill has not been marked what they are paying for at the end of the day. So we think that there is also a basis for a broad investigation of the law bodies, in relation to whether there were violations of other legal provisions, including the Consumer Protection Law”, Abazi said.

Ahaz doubts that in the bills of regular consumers, expenses made by commercial and technical losses are also calculated.

“We consider that the ZRE should be transparent and show that it is not only about the northern part that we pay, but we pay for commercial losses happening in the Republic of Kosovo. This too constitutes violations of legal provisions, violations of citizens' equality, and violations of the Law to protect consumers”, Abazi estimates.

However, Adelina Murtezaj denies such an attitude, showing that only the losses of the northern part have been calculated. It shows that commercial and technical losses at the country level are 16 percent.

“Technical losses are considered those losses caused by the old-fashioned network. Commercial losses, however, are caused by the misuse of electricity”.

“Operators constantly file lawsuits on competent organs for electricity abusers, but in general we haven't noticed any impact on reducing these losses”, she says.

The Power Regulatory Office, except that it has warned a 3.5 per cent price cut from December, it has warned that by April the price of electricity will be expensive for about 20 per cent.

Electricity can be expensive if the supply continues to be covered by import. (Taker by REL)