Energy winters, but at unpredictable prices

After two unstable years of electricity, with price hikes and calls for savings, the Kosovo Electricity Distribution Company KED guarantees stable supply for this winter.

To that end, KED has made investments in the power distribution network.

“realised investments guarantee sustainable electricity supply for all”, Free Europe Lulzim Krasniqi, spokesman for the company, says Radio Free Europe Lulzim Krasniqi.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has contributed to the world's power supply, especially in the year it began, in 2022.

As a result, there have been shortages of electricity and price hikes.

Kosovo fails to meet the needs of over 1.7 million of its inhabitants in electricity, so it imports from foreign stock exchanges.

What are Kosovo's capacities?

Kosovo has the capacity to produce about 800 megawatts per hour, while its needs, in winter days, reach up to 1,300 megawatts per hour.

One of the reasons for the sub-production is the decades-old age of thermal power plants.

In a statement given to Free Europe Radio, the Kosovo Energy Corporation, which is responsible for producing electricity, said it currently has A-3 and A-4 units of the Kosova A thermal power plant, as well as the B-2 of the Kosova B plant, with capacity of about 500 megawatts. KEK said it is expected during the winter season to have additional units in operation, with capacity of about 760 to 800 megawatts.

“However, it can never be ruled out that our generation units are outdated and do not guarantee 100 percent safe operation, which means that we may even have an unplanned product interruption, but no longer than 72 hours”, KEK said.

Last year, according to the Kosovo Energy Regulatory Office (ZRRE), over 750 thousand megavats of electricity have been imported, while Kosovo Energy Corporation thermal power plants have produced about 6.35 million megavats.

The electricity price on the Hungarian HUPX Stock Exchange, from which Kosovo imports, has been 91 euros for megawatts, 9 September.

By comparison, in August last year, it has totaled about 430 euros for megawatts, while in the same period in 2021 it has been around 150 euros.

In KEDs say the need for import will continue even this winter, and that prices on international stock exchanges “will be unpredictable”.

Whether there will be an increase in the price of electricity or not depends, not on us, but on the market and many other factors. We can say that uncertainties about Europe's natural gas supply continue...”, says ECDS spokesman Krasniqi.

Prices...

Last year, the electricity award for the category of family consumers has amounted to 6.14 euros for kilowatt from 5.60 euros in 2021.

For non-family consumers, however, the average electricity price in 2021 was 8.39 euros to reach 9.27 euros in 2022.

In April of this year, the price has increased by 15 percent for all consumer categories.

Krasniqi says saving the electricity and using it rationally will be required even during this winter.

The Kosovo government and energy sector mechanisms have repeatedly asked citizens to save.

In August, over 2,000 families have been subsidized for house isolation in order to save. The 10m-euro project has been supported by the European Union and implemented by the Kosovo Energy Efficiency Fund.

On 5 September, the Government of Kosovo has launched, as well, the Programme to Protect vulnerable consumers, which will be subsidised for paying electricity bills.

This category includes disabled people, caring parents, and pensioners who live alone.

“If a family has four members and has less than 600 euros in average monthly income, it can qualify for the” programme, Finance, Labour and Transfers Minister Hekuran Murati has said.

The program in question will be one year old. / REL