Skopje, 14 October 2022 (MIA) - If Power Plants of North Macedonia (ESM) maintains the planned production of electricity, I do not believe there will be a need to increase the price of electricity on the regulated market beyond December 31, said Energy Regulatory Commission president Marko Bislimoski on Friday. "Until December 31, the price of electricity that ESM sells to EVN Home is ЕUR 48 per MWh," said Bislimoski. Personally, he said, I am against having primary and secondary schools, public utility companies and companies that the Government will consider on the regulated market. "I think they absolutely need to be helped, but it should be done by ESM through its company ESM Sales, which has a license to supply electricity and offer them prices that are the same or higher than those on the regulated market. Thus, they will be helped in a much simpler way. If, on the other hand, they return to the regulated market, ESM will have to sell electricity to EVN Home at a price of EUR 48 per MWh, and in that case additional pressure would be placed on the price of electricity for households due to the increase in the margin cost," said Bislimoski. In this way, he emphasized, the margin will increase by EUR 5-7 million. "ESM Sales can sell to them at prices that are the same or higher than those on the regulated market and at the same time ESM can earn additional funds. If they return to the regulated market, then ESM will be forced, according to what was approved in the tender and concluded as a contract, to sell at a price of EUR 48 per MWh, and this will further increase the cost of the margin. If this is done through ESM Sales, ESM can, on a monthly basis, correct its price that it will offer, bearing in mind that there are announcements from the European Commission over a possible cap on electricity prices on the stock exchanges, primarily for the production capacities that don't run on gas," said Bislimoski. dk/ik/