A KOSTT report as part of the ongoing energy investigations, raises strong suspicions of manipulation of the price of imported electricity for Kosovo. KOSTT experts found that the companies “Noa Energy Trade” and the Serbian state-owned company – “Elektroprivreda Srbije” collaborated with the auctions in SEECAO during 2025.

It is suspected that both collaborated and manipulated the system at SEECAO to raise the costs of electricity transmission for Kosovo.

The companies "Noa Energy Trade" and "Elektroprivreda Srbije", during 2025, had cooperated alone on dozens of occasions in auctions for the sale and purchase of transmission lines destined for Kosovo, writes Economic Bulletin.

An internal KOSTT report, as part of the investigations launched into the energy sector, raises strong suspicions of manipulation of the price of electricity imported into Kosovo by these two companies.

KOSTT experts, during their investigation of the conduct of trading parties at the Podgorica Auction Office (SEECAO), found that the companies "Noa Energy Trade" and the Serbian state-owned company, "Elektroprivreda Srbije", collaborated with the cross-border capacities in the SEECAO auctions during 2025.

It is suspected that both of these companies, thanks to cooperation and prior "agreements", manipulated the system in SEECAO to raise the costs of electricity transmission for Kosovo.

The KOSTT report, which analyzed the behavior of trading parties in SEECAO, was compiled as part of investigations launched by the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) following a series of research published in the Economic Bulletin during 2025, regarding the import of electricity to Kosovo.

During 2024, electricity transmission costs for Kosovo reached up to 800 euros per megawatt hour, an "anomaly" that only occurs in cases where there are suspicious collaborations between electricity traders.

However, KOSTT's report only covers the period January-October 2025. During 2025, there were also unusual, approximate costs in the cross-border capacity market, where energy transmission cost many times more than the price of electricity itself.

How was the market manipulated?

The South East Europe Auction Office (SEECAO) based in Podgorica regulates the issue of auctions for the purchase of cross-border transmission capacities, of which Kosovo is a part. In addition to the price of electricity, another cost that is charged in the price is the cost of transmission, or the transport of energy.

In SEECAO, electricity traders purchase transmission lines in annual, monthly, and daily auctions.

According to the KOSTT report, in the daily auctions, it is suspected that the companies "Noa Energy Trade" and "Elektroprivreda Srbije" during 2025 manipulated the market by increasing the costs of electricity transmission, often many times higher than the price of electricity itself.

From the data that KOSTT received from SEECAO, it turned out that auctions destined for Kosovo had a tendency for "blocking lines" and "high concentration" of auctions in only two companies.

In at least 40 cases, the auction market in SEECAO focused only on the companies "Noa Energy Trade" and "Elektroprivreda Srbije".

The company "Noa Energy Trade" had purchased the Montenegro-Kosovo transmission lines in the annual auction for 2025. The price of the lines in the annual auction is just over 1 euro per megawatt/hour. It is suspected that market manipulation occurred in the daily auctions.

Energy traders who buy the lines in annual auctions then try to resell the lines in daily auctions to potential buyers. They do this to make a profit from the lines.

The company “Noa Energy Trade”, in addition to being the company that had the monopoly to supply Kosovo with imported electricity, also had the monopoly in providing transmission lines for the Kosovo Electricity Supply Company (KESCO). Thus, the lines that “NOA” purchased in the annual auction, whenever it intended to import electricity for KESCO, it returned them for resale in daily auctions.

SEECAO rules require that at least two companies participate in the auctions for the auction to be valid. In almost all auctions when NOA Energy Trade returned the annual lines for resale to the daily auction, only the company Elektroprivreda Srbije participated.

The report also identifies the costs of how much the capacity price for Kosovo went up in cases where these two companies cooperated. In all cases where the transmission price went above 100 and above 200 euros per megawatt/hour, in the daily auctions for imported energy in Kosovo, there were only the companies "Noa Energy Trade" and "Elektroprivreda Srbije".

The KOSTT report sees this concentration of the auction market to only two companies as an opportunity for cooperation between these two companies to increase the costs of electricity transmission.

"During the assessment, SEECAO also identified several hours (14) in which capacity was allocated to only two registered participants. Although the high concentration does not constitute a violation of the Rules, it may be indicative of capacity (line) hoarding behavior," the report states.

In the report, KOSTT calls on ERO to conduct more in-depth investigations to see what impact this concentration had on electricity consumer bills in Kosovo.

"The use of capacities acquired in daily auctions at high prices and their effect on end-user electricity prices should be further analyzed to understand the strategies/actions of trading parties, as KOSTT does not possess such data," the report further states.

Who is “Elektroprivreda Srbije”?

Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) is a fully owned energy company of the Government of Serbia, headquartered in Belgrade. Public records state that it was founded in 1991 and has 19,595 employees (as of 2023), making it the largest enterprise in Serbia.

The company has an installed capacity of 7,326 MW and generates 36.461 TWh of electricity per year. Its installed capacity of lignite-fired power plants is 4,390 MW, of combined heat and power plants with gas and liquid fuels is 336 MW, and of hydropower plants is 2,936 MW. EPS also operates three power plants with a total capacity of 461 MW, which are not owned by the company.

EPS is also the largest lignite producer in Serbia.

On the official website of this company, it is stated that it was founded by the Government of Serbia.

“The founder of Elektroprivreda Srbije is the Republic of Serbia, and the rights are exercised by the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The bodies of the Public Enterprise of the Electricity Industry are the Board and the Director. The Supervisory Board and the Director are appointed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia. The Enterprise has seven members elected by the Director.”

Public records indicate that "Elektroprivreda Srbije" has good cooperation with the company "EFT", which is owned by Serbian energy trader Vuk Hamovic. According to the findings of the Economic Bulletin's research, the company "EFT" had in its possession during 2024 the interconnection lines Albania-Kosovo and vice versa, won in the auctions at SEECAO, raising strong suspicions of sabotage of ALPEX, the Albanian stock exchange.

According to data from the Kosovo Business Registration Agency [ARBK], the company "JP Elektroprivreda Srbije Beograd" is also the owner of the operator "Elektrosever", which is responsible for billing electricity in the northern municipalities. /BuletiniEkonomik/

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