Bekteshi: Trade margin of electricity restricted to 10 percent
Skopje, 9 September 2022 (MIA) – The Ministry of Economy set the highest trade margin of electricity at a maximum of 10 percent for all trading companies and sole proprietors that trade in the wholesale and retail electricity market, as a new measure to more easily deal with the energy crisis.
Speaking at a press conference after Friday’s press briefing, Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi said the decision comes after it has been established that certain companies and public institutions, high schools and elementary schools have not concluded any electricity supply contracts and purchase electricity from a final supplier.
According to the Minister, EVN unnecessarily incurs costs and damage at the expense of the budget of the institutions it manages and pays a much higher electricity price, calculated according to the Regional Hungarian Power Exchange HUPX.
“Unfortunately, these entities waste the budget unnecessarily, whether they are of the local government or of a certain municipality where the elementary schools and high schools are located, or at a central level, because those funds can be used for investments to improve conditions, while they haven’t concluded contracts since January and are paying about 50 percent higher electricity price than what’s on the stock exchanges. That’s why we, as Government, decided to make such changes, and in addition we’ll request reports towards the beginning of October on how much electricity is being saved by these institutions and whether they have concluded the contracts accordingly, with the aim to contribute to mitigating the energy crisis, and not to spend the citizens' budget irresponsibly,” Bekteshi said. According to the Government’s decision, the new margin is to take effect before the start of the heating season and be valid until April 15, 2023. The Minister noted that additionally a recommendation has been adopted that is already being applied by the Energy Regulatory Commission, which reduces the margin calculated by the final supplier from 50 percent to 20 percent for entities that have not concluded a contract with a supplier. In addition, Bekteshi announced that the Ministry is considering the option of concluding an agreement with Serbia, according to which the two countries will be able to transfer certain amounts of electricity to each other.
