33 minutes agoNorthern Serbs speculate about electricity bills
Periskopi(4 years ago)
(4 years ago)Kosovo's government confirmed on Monday that it is very close to resolving the issue of electricity supply and transportation in the north. Citizens of municipalities: Northern Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zvecan and Zubin Potok mainly Serbs do not pay for the current spent now for more than two decades. Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislim [...]
Citizens of municipalities: Northern Mitrovica, Leposaviq, Zvecan and Zubin Potok mainly Serbs do not pay for the current spent now for more than two decades.
Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi, at the same time chief of the Kosovo delegation in talks with Serbia, said the issue would be adjusted “by respecting the agreement reached in April 2013”.
This agreement, reached within the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, envisions that besides the Electric Energy Distribution Company KEDS, another power distribution company is licensed in Kosovo.
The agreement was confirmed in August 2015 by the then prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia, but has never been implemented.
Bislim's reaction Monday appears to be prompted by a statement Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, made 10 June. Vuciq said that Serbia's “pal has been holding negotiations and has reached reconciliation with the KED for the presence of this company in Kosovo's north”.
Bislimi, in his Facebook response, did not deny the KED meeting with the Serbian side.
On behalf of Kosovo, the Government of the Republic of Kosovo alone negotiates. The meeting between the KED and the Serbian side, organised in Istanbul on June 9th, has had only the target of providing guarantees for the four services agreed on in 2015: setting the energy meter, maintaining the measurements, billing and running, and meeting the task”, Bislim said.
Some citizens refused to pay bills in Kosovo
Since the end of the recent war in Kosovo in 1999, northern citizens are regularly supplied with electricity, but do not pay for it.
This has happened because of the rejection of various structures supported by official Belgrade, which have operated on that part but also because of civic disobedience.
Of the representatives of Kosovo and Serbia there have repeatedly been controversial statements about who supplies the north with electricity.
System, Transition and Electricity Market operator in Kosovo (KOSTT) has said the supply is made by operators licensed by the Kosovo Energy Regulatory Office, but, according to Serbian officials, the current in the north comes from Serbia's Elektro-rrjeti.
Some citizens of the northern part of Kosovo, surveyed by Radio Free Europe, say they support the idea to fix the issue of electricity supply, but some say they would like to pay in Serbia, not Kosovo.
In any case, I'd rather pay my energy than have anything to say. I'm for this, better be paid”, says Dragica Vullic.
Another northern Mitrovica citizen, represented only by the name Milos, says he would not want to pay electricity for any Kosovo institution.
There must be a order... but earlier we would pay our state [Serbia] than the Government of Kosovo. I don't know, it seems to me that more and more are pushing us towards the hands of Pristina”, Milos says.
According to Milan, the issue of electricity payment is now meaningless.
I don't know, but I think now this is pointless for political reasons”, he says.
KEDS Not Comment
Following the Serbian president's comments, Radio Free Europe has requested additional information from KEDS for the meeting with the Serbian side, but from this institution they have not responded.
REL has also contacted the Elektro-rrjet of Serbia (EMS), but from this institution have recommended that the Office for Kosovo be contacted in the Government of Serbia. The latter has not responded.
REL's calls for comments have not responded to even European Union officials, the bloc that has brokered the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, reached in 2013 in Brussels.
Syla: Implementation of Agreement Essential
Energy field recognition in Kosovo, Lulzim Syla, says implementation of the energy agreement is a delayed but necessary process, especially now when Kosovo is facing energy crisis and the expensive energy price.
The “is a very delayed but welcome agreement in this energy crisis”, Syla tells Radio Free Europe.
According to him, Vuciq has misused the negotiation process in Brussels, when he said Serbia has reached agreement with KEDS on the current in the north.
He says Vuciq has done this to prepare Serbian citizens in the north that, soon, they will be obliged to pay for the spent electricity.
“Of course there will be hesitations from the citizens' side, because a culture of non-paying has been created and, at first, will be encountered in denial”, Syla says.
How was the solution to the problem envisioned?
Kosovo and Serbia have signed the agreement on the energy issue nearly a decade ago, in April 2013 respectively.
With this agreement confirmed by the parties themselves in 2015, it is envisioned in addition to KEDS, in Kosovo, is licensed another electricity distribution company named “Drustvo Elektrosever D.O.”. The owner of the latter is the Government of Serbia.
Its representatives have registered it as business at the Kosovar Agency for Registering Business (ARBK) in November 2018. Its primary activity is energy trade.
Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Besnik Bislimi said there will be no licensing of any other company except to “Drustvo Elektrosever D.O.O.”, just as the agreements reached with Serbia are envisioned, he said.
Under these agreements, this company, to start operating in Kosovo, would have to be licensed by the Kosovo Energy Regulatory Office.
“Drustvo Elektrosever D.O.” applied for license, but there is no confirmation that ZRRE has licensed it.
In February of this year, Z RRE has confirmed to Radio Free Europe that the license was requested in late December, 2020, but it has not yet been approved, because “should be in line with the [ Brussels] agreement and the conclusions”, which, according to Z. RRE has not been achieved.
The ZRR has not specified specifically what is controversial in this process.
What are the losses?
From System Operator, Transmission and Electric Energy Market in Kosovo (KOSTT), they have indicated that losses from the current in the north have reached 40m euros in 2021 alone.
From 2017 to today, electricity consumption in northern Kosovo municipalities is paid by COST.
From 1999 to 2017, the debt for Kosovo's north has been paid by citizens of other Kosovo municipalities. Their bills have been higher by 3.5 percent.
However, following numerous complaints, the Court of Appeals in Kosovo has decided in late 2017 about the suspension of this practice, arguing it is illegal.
This verdict was later confirmed by the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, and the payment has been passed to COST.
