Government no longer pays energy bills in the north

Residents of four municipalities in northern Kosovo, Leposaviq, Northern Mitrovica, Zubin Potok and Zvecan since 1999, have not paid their spent electricity bills after the end of the war.

These debts, which annually according to official notes amount to about 8m euros, are billed to citizens from other parts of Kosovo by the end of last year.

Meanwhile, a decision by the Court of Appeals had ended the practice for consumers of other parts of Kosovo to pay energy to Serb residents in the north of the country, who do not recognise Kosovo institutions, and for that, companies that should collect the bills do not have access to that part.

But, for the current spent in the north, the Government of Kosovo in March of this year had earmarked 1m euros, but now, Economic Development Minister Valdrin Luka has told Radio Free Europe that the government will no longer share tools.

The government has once earmarked 1m euros in March, but has now decided to stop sharing tools since it is unfair even to Kosovo taxpayers, and that this issue should be resolved permanently”, Luka says.

Within the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, brokered by the European Union since 2013, the energy agreement was signed, but as such not implemented by Serbia.

Visar Azem of the Kosovar consortium of the Sustainable Civil Development Society (KOSID) tells Radio Free Europe that disrespecting this agreement on the part of Serbia caused Kosovo to suffer losses, which, according to him, pays these losses to citizens.

No element in the energy deal reached between Pristina and Belgrade has been implemented on the part of Serbia, due to the benefits of that part. Kosovo continues to have losses from disrespecting this agreement, which these losses have been paid by Kosovo citizens in various ways”, Azemi says.

Disrespecting the energy agreement, Azem adds, is a major concern, but even Pristina and Belgrade have not dealt with this problem in a professional and better manner possible.

Based on the energy agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels, the condition for Serbia was the registration of a new Serbian company, according to Kosovo's legal framework, which will power consumers in the four Serb majority northern municipalities.

The competent Kosovo authorities have met all the criteria and conditions for registering this company, but that Serbia is not making such a move.

Minister Luka says that resolving the problem of energy payment spent by citizens of four municipalities in the north could only be concluded with the registration of a new Serbian company.

The moment the company is registered in the north under Kosovo legislation, that company then begins billing citizens and businesses in the north and tracking means from those citizens”, Luka adds.

He adds that from the failure to implement the energy deal from Belgrade, Kosovo continues to lose up to 25m euros annually.

Serbia must implement the agreement and make company registration, as the agreement envisions. Then, with the census of this company, part of the deal is that Kosovo will become an independent member of the ENTSO, which also helps COST to begin registering trans-power tariffs going through Kosovo, which so far incant Serbia”, says Luka.

Serbian Operator The EMS (Serbia's Energy Network) continues to have millions of benefits from the alpine capacity of Kosovo's border lines with neighbouring states, where specifically for 2017, EMS has illegally estimated 9.6m euros.

To resolve this problem, Luka underscores, there have been meetings with senior representatives of the European Network of Operators of the Electric Energy Transition System (ENTSO), who have visited Kosovo, which according to Minister Luka, have proved the case Kosovo supplies the north with energy and the north pays nothing for it.

“They have confirmed this and I believe it is a positive step for Kosovo and Kosovo Electricity Market Transitional System Operator (KOSTT). This confirmation favourably puts Kosovo against Serbia, because it proves that Serbia continues to deceive its citizens, saying they are paying for north”, Luka says.

Contacted by Radio Free Europe, the European Network of Operators of the Electricity Transmission System (ENTSO), has not answered questions about the issue.

Earlier, the European Network of Electric Energy Transition System Operators (ENTSO) had threatened Serbia with sanctions if it does not resolve the conflict with Kosovo, because digital hours, which are synced through the frequency network across Europe, are still being delayed.