ZERE soon sets for new energy tariffs

The deadline for submitting comments closes on January 31st at 4: 00 p.m.

THE ZERE during the public consulting process has so far received comments from various parties of interest as: The Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna, the Institute for Development Policy (INDEP), System, Transition and Energy Market of Kosovo (KOSTT), the Kosovar Power Distribution Company (KEDS) and the Kosovar Company for Electricity Supply (KESCO).

The office of the president of Kosovo has submitted comments to the ERE concerning the proposed tariffs, demanding that the principle of non-discrimination be respected.

“For the president of the Republic of Kosovo, the main goal remains to respect the principle of sustainability, equal approach, and regular electricity supply. In view of this, it is required of the ERE that, as it has already mentioned in the published document, make sure that public consultation [be] at the centre of effective regulatory policies. Respectfully, Z. The RRE is seriously invited to address the comments and recommendations of the interest parties and to integrate them into the final document, so that the new tariff structure is not discriminated against certain consumer groups in the country”, said Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani's office.

Meanwhile, the Vetevendosje Movement and the Democratic League of Kosovo on Monday have indicated that they too have submitted their comments to the ZERE.

ZERE Board Chairman Ymer Feyzulou said at a news conference Monday that new energy tariffs will be made public at the next meeting of the board.

Fyzulah has not specified the date for this meeting to be held.

“After accepting comments, Z The RRE will come up with a final report in which it will respond to these comments and decide on the allowed maximum revenues for regulated licenses, tariffs”, Fyzullahu said, respectively.

The extraordinary review of electricity tariffs has been made in order to reflect on rising prices of electricity import as a result of the global energy crisis.

Currently, Kosovo consumers pay 6.75 cents per kilowatt per hour.

The ZERE has come up with the proposal for increased bills on January 17th. She's made customer division into five categories: A, B, C, D, E.

As explained in the ZRE Consultative Report, increased energy prices affect only two categories of households -- D and E -- those citizens who spend over 800, respectively, over 1,000 kilowatts.

For the D category, which spends 800 kilowatt hours of electricity per month, the bill is expected to rise for 12 euros and 31 cents.

For citizens in the E category, who spend 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, the bill is expected to rise to 24 euros and 62 cents.

Opposition parties have rejected proposals for energy price increases.

A protest against expensive electricity has been held Saturday in Pristina.

Meanwhile, for the increase of electricity bills not to be so high and not to become unbearable for a category of citizens, the Government of Kosovo has allocated a total of 75m euros in subvention form.

These subsidies also apply to businesses, for which even after the ZERE proposal, there will be no increase in electricity tariffs.