TIRANA, Jan. 21 – A new draft law expected to pass parliament next month would allow the government to seize the homes and businesses of consumers with large outstanding bills to the state-owned power distribution company.
The proposal comes as part of a nationwide campaign to curb electricity theft and cut off power to indebted customers, with the government aiming to increase penalties on household and business consumers who have accumulated large amount of debts.
Under a recent draft law approved by government, the electricity distribution operator, OSHEE, is authorized to seize assets to households with a debt of more than Lek 150,000 (Euro 1,051) and businesses with accumulated debts of more than Lek 2 million (14,017).
The comes as the Feb. 28 deadline set for the payment of accumulated debts is expiring.
Government officials have not publicly announced the new measures which are expected to enter into force next March, but the information is contained in publicly-available government documents.
Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Party has described the new measures as “unacceptable and repressive.”
“The draft law approved by government strips citizens of their legal protection to housing and minimum savings. The electricity distribution operator is given excess authority to place the house or business as collateral for unpaid electricity bills,” Sherefedin Shehu, an opposition Democratic MP told a local television station. “It is the distribution operator which should not allow the accumulation of unpaid bills and government must not leave the burden to households and businesses because of its inefficiency.”
The Socialist Party-led government says it is determined to reform the country’s energy system and introduce modern technology to reduce power theft and upgrade the dilapidated grid. It is estimated current issues cause the state budget around Euro 150 million in annual losses.
Prime Minister Edi Rama announced last week the government has decided to install some 1.1 million intelligent meters using a pre-paid metering system in the next five years.
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 US$100 million while grid losses dropped by 15 percent to 33 percent in November 2014.
The company has appealed to all debtor customers to benefit from a deal which allows them to extend their debt payment in installments and benefit from the 80 penalty deduction until Feb, 28, 2015 if they pay in full.
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.
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.
Hundreds of public administration employees have been fired because of electricity thefts or accumulated debts and thousands asked to submit their paid electricity bills records, sparking reactions by the People’s Advocate who describes such a government practice as running counter to the basic principles supporting the activity and mission of public administration bodies.
