Kosovo businesses demand postponement of energy liberalization, warn of protests

Businesses, in cooperation with the relevant chambers, have requested the annulment of the decision of the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) that foresees the liberalization of the energy market for businesses.

According to them, this decision is unsustainable and jeopardizes the financial sustainability of many enterprises, and if the request for cancellation is not taken into account, they have proposed as a solution the subsidization of the additional cost for businesses.

The President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, Lulzim Rafuna, considering that businesses are not prepared for a free energy market, also presented their demands.

"The first request would have been to work with ERO and the government in office as soon as possible... ERO just needs a commitment, it's not that it needs to allocate 50 million today, but it just needs a commitment that over the coming months it will subsidize the amount of 50 million."

This should have been the first step. I believe it is more transparent and the best possible way that would have saved businesses. I agree that 1 year would be a little long, but we are saying at least 1 year to give us time to prepare the institutions, the market, and the business... If there is no reaction from the current Government of Kosovo and the ERO, then we will see the other steps that are being proposed, including the forms of protest", Rafuna declared, KP reports.

The President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, Skender Krasniqi, has requested that the ERO's decision to liberalize the energy market for businesses be canceled.

He calls this decision illogical. Krasniqi warned of protests if this decision is not withdrawn by ERO.

"Two months ago, making such a decision is so abnormal from an institution, while the ground has not been prepared in the market, we only have one company, only KEDS, which is offering because all the other companies are not offering a price, these are continuing with the same company only with prices 200-300 percent higher...."

I think that it should be postponed for at least 1 or 2 years so that businesses can prepare and then ERO should allow businesses to invest. We are having the biggest problem that ERO has stopped businesses from investing in electricity, limiting them with the amount of investment based on consumption and not based on the employment they have, and not buying it from them, but compensating them. These are illogical decisions to the detriment of businesses... We should also look at other ways and a protest for next week as an opposition to this decision", he said.

The Director of the Business Club, Ilir Ibrahimi, emphasizes that businesses have not had the right time to prepare to face the free energy market.

He says this is a difficult decision that no business can survive.

"It is undoubtedly a difficult decision and has found the business in a survival situation... Such a large price increase for such a short time puts them in front of a challenge that almost no business can survive... The reason we have come to this situation is the lack of preparation for such terrain, as we have repeatedly said that we are not against market liberalization, but market liberalization must be done with preparation," he stressed.

The President of the Association of Kosovo Manufacturers, Kushtrim Ajvazi, presented two requests to business representatives.

The first request, he said, is to postpone the entry into force of the ERO's decision to liberalize the energy market for businesses for at least one year, while the second request is to request a subsidy for this additional cost for producers.

"So far, out of 19 licensed operators, only KESCO has managed to give us an offer, and this is only an offer regarding the price and one of the contract conditions that requires us to deposit at least two months of the annual bill to sign the contract...

Our position is that the decision be postponed for at least 1 year because it is an extremely short period of time. We are talking about 15 days until June 1st, none of the producers that I have contacted have signed and do not know the terms of the contract and do not know the terms of the free market. This is unfair because in addition to the price, there are other criteria in the contract that provide for penalties for producers... The second demand is the subsidization of this additional cost for producers because our producers are the heart of the economy", he said.

The owner of a company, Sadik Krasniqi, stated that apart from information about the transition of businesses to the free energy market, they have no other information.

"The only information we received was the email that you have to switch to the free market, we have no other information, no leaflet. It is not clear what the competencies are, what the obligations of the supplier are, what our obligations are, what our advantages are. We have no information, no guarantee that the energy network can cope with the free market in case we switch to the free market and our electricity is cut off," he said.

The executive director of a pharmaceutical company, Mergim Prishtina, emphasizes that manufacturing companies should be against the liberalization of the energy market.

"In terms of production, I think we should be against the liberalization of the energy market in terms of production... If KEK is not liberalized as a local producer, why should we be liberalized? I think that in the future we should set a condition that if producers are liberalized, all producers of energy should also be liberalized," he stressed.

In addition to these two businesses, representatives of many other businesses that are under attack were also present at this meeting and unanimously requested the cancellation of the ERO's decision to liberalize the energy market for 1300 businesses.

The Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) has announced that from June 1, businesses with over 50 employees or a turnover of over 10 million euros will enter the free electricity market. This decision has sparked reactions and opposition from local businesses. /KP/