TIRANA, Oct. 26 – Two years after the launch of an aggressive nationwide campaign to cut off illegal connections and collect hundreds of millions of euros in accumulated unpaid bills, Albania’s state-run OSHEE electricity distribution operator continues improving its collection rates and reducing its grid losses.
In its latest report, the OSHEE operator says electricity losses in the distribution grid, which still needs huge investment to be lifted out of its dilapidated condition, dropped to 27.6 percent in the first three quarters of this year, down from 31.3 percent in the same period last year and a record 43.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2013 when the distribution operator was taken back under state control following a failed short-term privatization by Czech Republic’s CEZ.
The company’s bill collection rate also rose to 3.3 percent to 42.9 billion lek (€309 million) in the first three quarters of this year and was up by about 50 percent compared to the same period in 2013. The figure for the first three quarters of this year does not take into account collection rates from about 225,000 consumers, the overwhelming majority of whom households, who continue paying their accumulated unpaid bills under deals with OSHEE operator, at an average monthly amount of 2,500 lek (€18).
OSHEE says some 220,000 households have paid off their electricity debts since late 2014 s benefitting up to 80 percent in discounts on the late payment penalties through their lump sum payments.
State-run OSHEE distribution operator was the country’s most profitable company in 2015 when it registered profits of about 14.9 billion lek (€106 mln) in 2015 following losses of 4.5 billion lek (€32 mln) in 2014 and a record high of 27 billion lek (about €192 mln) in 2013 when the company was taken back under state administration.
By comparison, the biggest oil importer and trader, Albanian-owned Kastrati which has a market share of about 50 percent and was Albania’s biggest company in terms of turnover in 2015, saw its net profit drop to €9.1 million.
