Serbia is keeping electricity transmission blocked for Kosovo

Serbia's “This lack of co-operation has an impact on the regional market, as well as on the increase in the electricity price”, it says in response.

Transmission cuts have occurred since 14 December, when COST is beginning to operate as independent and control Kosovo's energy limits.

Dardan Abazi, senior researcher at the Institute for Development Policy (INDEP), says such obstacles cause financial losses for COSTT and for solving this problem, according to him, competent authorities in Kosovo must ask the International Community in order to wait on Serbia's authorities. According to Abbas, if the obstacles persist over a long period of time, it will also have an impact on the rising price of energy.

I don't think the effect should be long enough to affect the bill. But if that happens, then there will be an alarm that we have to exploit more of our diplomacy, more governance to exploit diplomacy mechanisms to influence even the member states of the European Union, but also in these mechanisms that we have recently become members of, to interfere with and stop this behavior of Serbia”, Abazi says.

Currently, the price of electricity has not changed, says power supply distribution spokesman (KEDS) Viktor Buzhala, adding that energy purchases are being carried out mainly by Hungary's Berza.

Ahaz: Kosovo should be equal in energy market

However, Dardan Abazi says Kosovo should be equal to other states on the energy market.

“I think that Serbia's behaviour should be stopped in time and that it is possible to do so through state influence mechanisms on the European Network of Energy Transmission System Operators (ENTSO), which is the final authority that should stop this behaviour of Serbia. Condemn it (Serbia) for these practices and educate how it should behave and not treat Kosovo as uneven in the energy market”, he points out.

COMM STT: EMS has not voiced readiness for agreement

But COSTT officials show they have submitted operational agreements to the Serbian operator EMS (Serbia's Electronic-Energy Network), but this operator has not yet expressed readiness for agreement. Also, COSTT is said to be working closely with the European Operator Network of Energy Transmission System (ENTSO) to solve the problem.

December 14th, COSTT operates as independent and controls Kosovo's energy borders. Kosovo's exit from the SMM regulatory bloc (Serbia, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia) and its inclusion in a bloc with Albania was envisioned with an agreement between COST and ENTSO last month. This agreement went into effect on September 29, 2020.

But even prior to the independence of Kosovo's energy system, Serbia has consistently caused problems with capacity access, it said last month about Radio Free Europe, Nebit Zariqi, a member of the COST board.

Also, citizens living in four municipalities in northern Kosovo with Serb majority (North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Zvecan and Leposaviq), since the end of the war in 1999, have failed to pay the energy bills and why they have been supplied by Kosovo, as needed by Serbia. About 12m euros per year are calculated for energy bills spent in these municipalities.

Some citizens cross the bridge over the Iber River, dividing the southern and northern part of Mitrovica.

Kosovo and Serbia in 2013, within the Brussels dialogue, have signed the Energy Agreement. This agreement had envisioned the creation of a new company, according to Kosovo's legal framework, which would supply electricity to consumers in the four northern municipalities, inhabited by Serb majority.

ZERE: Company “Eleterver D.O.O” applied for license

On December 28, 2020, the Energy Regulatory Office has submitted an application for access to electricity supply from the company “Electricity D.O.O.”, an answer by the Office for Energy Information Information.

The regulator, with the aim of reviewing this app, has created the Pro-Stimuling Commission, which is then forwarded to the Regulatory Board in order to make the final decision”, says from this office.

The deadline for examining an app could last up to 60 days from the date when the app is considered complete. However, it is currently impossible for the Regulatory Board to make decisions, as there are only two members out of five as long as it is legally defined or lacking at least one member so that it can make decisions as required by the Law for Energy regulator.

Earlier, COSTT officials have declared for REL that from 2008 until now, the state of Serbia has illegally used Kosovo's transmission network and has collected revenues of about 65m euros.