TIRANA, Jan. 13 – The Socialist Party-led government says it is determined to reform the country’s energy system and introduce modern technology to reduce power thefts and upgrade the dilapidated grid.
Speaking in a conference on the recovery of the energy sector this week, Prime Minister Edi Rama announced government had decided to install some 1.1 million intelligent meters using a pre-paid metering system.
“In the course of the next five years we will introduce the most advanced technology so that every consumer has its intelligent power meter. We will start this year and become the first European country to have installed 1.1 million intelligent meters,” said Rama.
The Prime Minister warned there would be zero tolerance to electricity thefts and that the nationwide campaign launched in late 2014 would continue.
The nationwide campaign to curb electricity thefts launched in late October 2014 has helped the electricity distribution operator improve both its financial performance and the level of grid losses. The distribution operator, currently wholly state-owned, says the company managed to increase its bill collection by USD 100 million while grid losses dropped by 15 percent to 33 percent in November 2014.
The operator says some 100,000 household and business consumers had electricity cut off in the last two months of 2014 as part of the nationwide campaign to curb thefts and cut off electricity to debtor customers. Some 66,000 customers signed deals with the company to pay off accumulated debts dating back since 2008 allowing them to pay in installments. Dozens of consumers were also arrested in the police-backed operation against electricity thefts, estimated to cause the state budget around Euro 150 million in annual losses.
“The bill collection in the January-December 2014 rose by 10.6 billion lek or an additional USD 100 million compared to 2013,” says Adrian Çela, the head of the OSHEE operator.
The company has appealed to all debtor customers to benefit from the facilitating deal which allows them to extend their debt payment in installments and benefit from the 80 penalty deduction until February 28, 2015.
Household and business consumers will face higher electricity prices for 2015, according to a decision by the country’s energy regulator in late December 2014.
Around three-quarters of Albanian households with a monthly consumption of up to 300 kWh are expected to face higher prices from the decision which lifted the threshold applying lower tariffs and imposed a unified tariff. However, government says some 210,000 families in need with a monthly consumption of 300 kWh will be compensated 650 lek/month due to higher bills
The energy regulator ERE has ruled the unified electricity price will be at 9.5 lek (11.4 lek VAT included)/kWh (Euro 0.08) which will affect all consumers with a monthly consumption of up to 450 kWh and charge lower bills to those with a bigger consumption due to the lift of the previous 13.5 lek/kWh tariff for every kWh above the 300 kWh threshold.
Business consumers will also face higher electricity prices starting from January 2015 except for bakeries and flour mills whose prices have remained unchanged at 8.52 lek (VAT included).
Electricity prices for businesses connected to the 35 kW grid have increased by 12 percent to 11.4 lek/kWh (VAT included).
The Albanian hydro-dependent electricity system is now wholly state run after a deal settling the dispute with Czech giant CEZ group which will be paid back Euro 95 million for 76 percent of the shares it bought in the Albanian electricity distribution operator in 2009 for Euro 102 million
