TIRANA, Feb. 11 – As a deadline on electricity debt repayment is expiring, the distribution system operator says it has pardoned 54,000 abusive bills, worth 4.1 billion lek (Euro 28.7 million), sparking debates over those who have paid abusive bills in the past three months as part of nationwide campaign to curb thefts and collect debts.
The OSHEE operator says the pardoned bills belong to the October 2008-April 2011 when the company was managed by Czech operator CEZ and the abusive amounts had been charged as ‘economic damage’ or ‘unmeasured electricity.’
The operator says the decision had been made by energy regulator ERE since 2010 but flailed to be implemented.
Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Party has called on the company to compensate thousands of households who have paid abusive bills in the past couple of months as part of the campaign.
OSHEE has denied the allegations, saying that none of the 53,900 bills it has pardoned has been collected.
“We are preparing another fully legal compensation for another category of consumers unfairly charged in the past,” says company officials.
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.
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 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.
