Kosovo braces for electricity price surge

The possible increase in the price of electricity from April 1 is expected to also affect the increase in the prices of other products in the country. The request by energy companies for an increase in the price of electricity has prompted reactions from citizens, economic experts and businesses, who are demanding urgent intervention from the state to avoid the increase in the price of electricity.

During this month, the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) is expected to review and set electricity tariffs, which are announced every April 1 and are valid until March 31 of the following year, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

Economists say that the potential increase in tariffs will negatively affect businesses, forcing them to increase the costs of final products.

However, energy expert Hamdi Malushaj has doubts about the transparency of the energy pricing process.

He says the government should urgently intervene and conduct an audit to verify whether the increase is justified or not, making this, he says, a more open and credible process.

The owner of a company in the country, Shaqir Palushi, does not rule out the possibility of an increase in the cost of final products if the price of electricity increases.

On the other hand, the president of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Skënder Krasniqi, underlines that Kosovo businesses are facing great difficulties due to the increase in production costs, including energy and workers' salaries. He has requested that the state support local producers and businesses, by providing financial opportunities so that they can offer more competitive products in the market.

Another economist, Mustafa Kadrijaj, also says that the potential increase in the price of electricity is a blow to businesses and citizens.

While citizens are concerned about this situation, citizen Selmon Bytyqi opposes the increase in energy prices and says that this will have catastrophic consequences for citizens, as many of them will not be able to afford this increase.

Another citizen, Azem Azemi, also says that any further increase in electricity prices is "excessive compared to the standard we live by."

ERO told KosovaPress that this regulator has received applications from licensed operators for regular tariff adjustments, according to the legal requirements in force.

"After receiving these applications, ERO has begun the process of analyzing them. This process includes a detailed assessment of the requests and documentation submitted by the operators, in accordance with the legal requirements in force. We inform you that ERO, after a detailed assessment of the requests submitted in the applications of the licensed operators, will make a preliminary assessment of these requests. This assessment will be published by ERO. After the publication of the preliminary assessment, stakeholders have the opportunity to provide their comments and observations on this assessment", says ERO.

According to ERO, this process is expected to be completed by the end of March 2025.

We recall that from April 2023 to March 31, 2024, consumers who spend less than 800 kilowatts per hour within a month had their electricity price during the day increased to 7.79 cents per kilowatt, while for those who spend more than 800 kilowatts, the price was 14.45 cents, or over 100 percent more expensive compared to 2013,

Meanwhile, on April 2, 2024, the Board of the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) had decided to grant a symbolic price reduction of 8 percent for household consumers consuming over 800 kilowatt hours, as well as 3 percent for commercial and industrial consumers. This decision came as a result of the reduction in the price of electricity for imports.

According to ERO, after this decision, tariffs for household consumers who spend over 800 kilowatts, which means that from 14.45 cents per kilowatt, they will pay 13.29 cents for the daytime tariff, and from 6.81 cents to 6.26 cents for the nighttime tariff.

According to the ERO's annual report, in 2023 for the household consumer category the average electricity price is 7.12 cents per kilowatt, which is 15.93 percent higher than in 2022 when it was 6.14 cents per kilowatt, while for non-household consumers the average electricity price is 9.36 cents per kilowatt, which is higher than the average price in 2022 when it was 9.27 cents per kilowatt, it reports.

Ten years earlier, in 2013, the average price of electricity for a household was 5.15 cents per kilowatt, while 7.21 cents for non-households.

While, according to the energy regulator, the average electricity prices for household and non-household consumers for the last ten years, the prices do not include VAT.