Bekteshi: Legal action to be taken in all municipalities with electricity loss
Skopje, 29 August 2022 (MIA) – The Municipality of Arachinovo will be one of the municipalities to set a positive example that elementary issues such as electricity supply, as well as the obligations we have as citizens, will take place in a fair and impartial way, not discriminating against anyone, Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi said Monday.
At the same time, it is the obligation of institutions, starting from the local to the central government, to create basic conditions for residents and call on residents to fulfill their obligations, Bekteshi told TV21’s ClickPlus show. “The Municipality of Arachinovo has been the subject of talks for years. It’s too bad that in the 21st century we’re talking about funds allocated by the Government, about a municipality that’s continuously discriminated against. We won’t stop here, we’ll allocate additional funds for the Municipality of Arachinovo, for the construction of sewage, water supply, etc.,” said Bekteshi. He pointed out that currently, losses of electricity at a state level are close to EUR 100 million under the current prices, while in the municipality of Arachinovo with an 80 percent loss of electricity according to data of the power utility company EVN, EUR 5-6 million damage has been done, which is about 10 percent of the total damage. “With the latest amendments to the laws in the country, the abuse of electricity is a crime punishable by law, and it is the obligation of state institutions not to allow abuse of electricity because electricity loss with EVN is factored in as a cost when forming electricity prices by the ERC. Therefore, institutions should not allow electricity to be abused to this extent, because it affects the price of energy for every citizen and every municipality. Every electricity consumer has the same obligations,” Bekteshi stressed. The Minister said the region and all the countries in the world are facing a difficult winter, but competent institutions in the country are making the necessary preparations to cope with the crisis as easily as possible. “At a global level, we’re facing a harsh winter. The EU is highly dependent on natural gas supply from Russia, and in addition to the price of natural gas, there’s a warning that there may be a fill shutdown of respective countries, as is the case with the Republic of Bulgaria, there are thermal power plants working with natural gas, which produce both electricity and heating energy, which was the case with the city of Skopje and the TE-TO company that supplies it with heating energy but also produces 200 MGW/h electricity in parallel, but we’re making appropriate preparations, we’ve increased local production capacities, we’re in talks with neighbors so the electricity supply is not interrupted and there are no interruptions in the transmission network, i.e. the interconnectors,” Bekteshi said. As regards the measures announced to be implemented as of September 1, Bekteshi said that the 15 percent reduction in consumption also helps deal with the energy crisis. State institutions have an obligation to save energy, and every head of institution will be accountable to the Government to present monthly savings reports. Bekteshi added that unlike many EU member states “we don’t expect restrictions even during the winter, given that we’ll meet the needs of households and micro companies with local production.”
