Suspected corrupt scheme at KEK, Noah and ETMT won 90 percent of electricity sales auctions

That's how the medium reported an investigation of “Economic Bulletin” published Wednesday.

From data provided at KEK through a request for access to public documents from this medium, it turns out that during 2025, nearly 90 percent of auctions focused on only two companies, one with about 60 percent of the auctions won, and the other with nearly 30 percent of them.

As in 2024, even in 2025, at KEK's auctions for the sale of electricity surpluses dominated the company “Noa Energy Trade”, which in 2025 has bought electricity at KEK for the value of 10.7m euros.

Unlike this company, which dominates KEK auctions by 2022, another company from Albania named “EMT” has been powerfully involved at KEK auctions during 2025. This company owned nearly 30 percent of auctions for 2025, or bought electricity from KEK of 4.4m euros.

If the general data is looked at, the auction process seems to be all right, but the analysis of hundreds of auctions and the behavior of participating companies at these auctions provides a completely different reality. The so high concentration of KEK auctions in only two companies allegedly hides behind a well-designed scheme of energy businessmen through KEK interventions to control the auction process.

High concentration of auctions of two companies

KEK, much of the electricity it produces, is obliged to sell KESCO, to cover local consumption, but when there are surplus electricity, which usually appears on the night of consumption, it should first be directed to A. The EPEX, the Albanian stock exchange, and if it fails to sell energy at ALEPEX, then it conducts auctions with energy dealers.

The auction procedure is provided with COST regulation “The procedure for electricity processing”, which regulates the electricity trade by licensed companies in Kosovo for electricity trading.

Article 10, points 1 of this regulation is decidably said: “Size/ The vendor must be neutral to all businessmen”.

However, this regulation appears to have not been respected in the case of KEK auctions, if the conduct of participants at these auctions is analysed, according to each day of 2025.

From data provided through demand for access to public documents, it is seen that NOA Energy Trade U.S.H. has benefited energy worth 10,734,621.07 euros, making up 58.54% of the total auctions, while STAT Energy Sh.p.k. has benefited 4,485,275.45 euros, or 24.46% of the total value.

Together, these two companies control about 83% of the total value of energy traded through auctions, while the rest have been distributed among other operators. In these auctions, you offer again and again “Slovenia's GEN” and Danish company “Danske”, but both have very low rates of auctions won compared to two other companies Noah Energy Trade and EMT Energy.

Of the over 200 auctions surveyed for 2025, over 90 percent of the auctions were won by Noah Energy Trade and EMT Energy. In addition to the high concentration of auctions at two companies, suspicious is the time of submitting bids.

The auction analysis shows a repeat model in the way the bidding is delivered. In analysed cases, NOA Energy Trade and ETMT Energy bids are regularly recorded in the last minute of auction deadlines, often in the same minute, just before the process closes.

Suppose, in almost all cases when the Noah Energy Trade company came up with the winning auction, this company had always offered the last. This suspicious behavior is repeated throughout 2025. Also, in nearly all cases when Noah Energy Trade offered the latest offer, he had always offered a price more expensive than other operators, winning auctions. In most cases, the winning award for megava-hours offered by Noah Energy Trade is at a minimum difference with the price offered by other operators, participants in the race.

Another constantly repeated element is the same time of delivery of bids from Noah Energy Trade and EMT, raising doubts about co-operation between these two companies. From the data, it turns out that NOA Energy Trade and ETMT Energy submits bids almost regularly in the last minutes of the deadline, very often in the same minute, usually at 09:16 or 18:16, while other operators, such as GEN or Danske Commodites, offer one or a few minutes earlier. In nearly all cases when these two companies have offered in the same minute, the winner has emerged either.

The same time of bidding, exactly in the same minute between Noah Energy Trade and ETMT, raises doubts about co-operation between these two companies, to control the auction process by putting “in full” on each other.

Similarly, the fact that NOA Energy Trade has almost always offered the latest and has consistently submitted the winning bid by minimal margin from other operators raises doubts about the possible co-operation of this company with officials in KEK.

Even more suspicious of these auctions makes the difference in the price between winners and other participating companies at auction. For example, if taken as the case of July 2025, it is seen that at nearly all auctions this month, Noah Energy Trade offer last year and always wins.

The price difference for megawatts is minimal. Thus, at the auction of the date 03.07.2025, GEN had offered 80 euros for megawatts-hours, while NOA at 81.22 euros for megava-hours -- by a margin of 1.22 euros.

At the next auction of 14.07.2025, GEN offered 92 euros per unit, Noah 93.95 euros, or a margin of 1.95 euros more. The same behavior is repeated at all auctions of the same month.

The same bidding time with Noah Company, from the ERTMT company, is called <x0-trascriptor”, until they deny any cooperation with this company.

Arta Ramadani, the ETMT manager in Kosovo, says that at any auction with the strict deadline, ETMT always tries to offer in the final seconds of the deadline set at auction. According to commercial practice, it says that all energy auctions with the set deadlines, which take place in Europe as in Kosovo and beyond, bidding in recent seconds is a common practice.

The majority of companies in the world follow this approach (bid/offer on East-minute/seconds), and in our judgment it's totally random if the same time of offer occurs, as you mention”, has praised Ramadan.

X-mail auctions How did KEK's electronic platform fail after “intervention” of NOA Energy Trade?

These allegations have also indirectly raised the National Audition Office (ZKA) in the KEK report for 2025.

State auditers from the KEK shopping auditing process found that all auction procedures are conducted through emails, avoiding safe and non-intervention trade, which can be done only through an electronic platform.

The research finds that in 2023 KEK had developed a software for energy trading, which has been tested within the system but has never been put into operational use.

Electronic platforms for electricity trading increase transparency and equality in the race, as each action of participants is recorded in the system and creates verifiable tracks, enabling any possible intervention or manipulation to be identified.

All experts who have consulted the Economic Bulletin during the research period confirm that the sale of electricity, when conducted through auction procedure on an electronic platform, increase transparency and avoid potential interference in the process of implementing the race.

E-mail trade, as KEK currently implements, creates open opportunities for corruption and auctioning by officials.

Despite the insistence of the Economic Bulletin, KEK has declined to answer media questions about why electronic platforms have never been put into use for electricity trading, although it has been available since 2023.

According to KEK sources, but also documents containing the Economic Bulletin, the failure to operate this system is linked to objections voiced by one of the economic operators participating in the market, namely NOA Energy Trade, which has raised concerns about the system's lack of security certificate.

This company has not returned answers to the objections it had addressed to KEK about this platform.

Even the Energy Regulatory Office (ZRRE) has been aware that the platform had not been set up, however, has not taken measures on KEK.

According to an ZERE response to the Economic Bulletin, the only house undertaken so far has been repeated requests to KEK to develop and operate an electronic platform for the sale of electricity.

ZRE itself acknowledges that in the absence of this “platform, intervention and manipulation of the process can occur. ”

This requirement has been made precisely to increase transparency, ensure equality in the treatment of participants and to avoid any possible intervention or manipulation in the process”, the ZRE response reported.

Even the ECA in the report on KEK, records serious shortcomings in internal control and traceability of the auction process. According to the audit, auctions are conducted through an electronic address on Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 (E-mail) platform, a system that is no longer supported by the manufacturer and no longer receives security updates. Moreover, the absence of <x0ud loges” cannot afford the exact time record of the user's bidding and identity, making it impossible to verify the real moment of their accession.

ZKA also stresses that existing systems do not provide sufficient security and control levels, while efforts to establish a new or alternative platform have not resulted in success.

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The failure of this platform allegedly links another suspicious process linked to Albanian stock exchange LEPEX.

According to the rules in effect, KEK, primarily sells electricity through A EPEX (Albanian source), as an organised and transparent market mechanism. Only remaining energy, which cannot be sold on this market, is treated through auction procedures.

But research findings show KEK deliberately avoided in many cases A The EPEX for the sale of surplus. He does this to sell his electricity through auctions at energy dealers. This is reflected by data provided at KEK through demand for access to public documents. So 30.6m euros was the value of sales from electricity surpluss for 2025, power was traded through auctions at 18.3m euros, until through A. EPEX 12.3m euros.

KEK media sources, also based on provided documents, have said that the same ʹalibiʹ is usually used by KEK marketing officials to avoid ALPEX.

Because KEK has an obligation that electricity surplus is initially directed to the stock market, ALPEX, the hylja lies in that KEK in ALPEX offers at a much higher price than the average price of electricity on the stock market that day. And because no buyers are notified, that energy is then sold through the auctions of energy dealers”.

KEK has not answered media questions about this meeting and why it offers at ALEPEX at a price higher than the price of electricity on this stock.