Businesses in Kosovo have not reported any disconnections from the energy network, stated the president of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce, Lulzim Rafuna.
Warnings of disconnections have been made in recent days by the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO), the Electricity Distribution Company (KEDS) and the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK), which have announced that as of July 31, all large businesses that have not signed a contract with a licensed electricity supply company will be left without power.
KEK, in its capacity as Supplier of Last Resort, has temporarily supplied these businesses, following the entry into force of the decision to liberalize the energy market on June 1.
According to this decision, from this date all companies that have more than 50 employees or an annual turnover of over 10 million euros are obliged to switch to the open market and find a licensed supplier themselves.
There are over 1,300 such companies in Kosovo.
Companies that failed to sign a contract with a supplier by July 30 were supplied by KEK, as a last resort for securing electricity, for a 60-day period. This period ended today.
"Even though this period has ended, we have no information that there are power outages at businesses, regardless of whether they have signed a contract with a licensed company," Rafuna told Radio Free Europe.
Rafuna hopes that the power outage did not occur due to the decision of the Commercial Court of Kosovo.
This court, on July 30, temporarily suspended the decision of the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO), which foresees the obligation of large businesses to switch to the liberalized energy market.
The suspension measure, the announcement states, will remain in effect until the Court makes a final decision on this matter.
However, sources within ERO told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on July 30 that, according to their lawyers' interpretation, this court decision applies only to the company that filed the lawsuit against ERO – and not to all large businesses.
ERO officials did not provide any public clarification on Thursday, saying that they "are discussing this issue and will soon issue an official announcement."
Business representatives in Kosovo have consistently requested the postponement of the market liberalization process, due to the lack of competition in the country between companies licensed to trade electricity and the high price in the market.
According to them, most of these companies have not offered favorable conditions or convincing offers to businesses.
As for the energy prices that businesses have been supplied with in these two months, Rafuna said that today many businesses have reported that their bills for June have been 100 percent higher than in the same period last year. And, according to him, this figure is unaffordable.
This is also confirmed by the Frutex company in Suhareka.
Its owner, Shaqir Palushi, told Radio Free Europe that the bill for June from KEK, as the Supplier of Last Resort, came to 6,400 euros, while in June of last year it was over 3,400 euros.
Currently, 22 energy trading companies are licensed in Kosovo, while three more are in the licensing process.
Among them are the Electricity Supply Operator (KESCO) and KEK.
As of July 31, over 250 private businesses have signed contracts with KESCO, while dozens of other requests are pending.
Meanwhile, 53 companies have signed contracts with KEK./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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