TIRANA, Nov. 20- During his presentation of the 2008 budget, Prime Minister Berisha declared that energy prices will rise for business customers and high volume consumers using over 400 kilowatts/hour per month. The Prime Minister additionally said the price for electricity will double for these two categories. In the mean time, power rationing goes on despite the high level of rainfall that have added to the water reserves in the northern hydro electric complexes. Reports say the Fierza Lake is now at 270 meters, which is still not optimal conditions for local production. The operations at the two other plants will cover the extra demand because of the low temperatures and the increased use of heating. The Prime Minister explained that most of the consumers will not be affected since this increase only applies to business. According to KESH, 91 percent of all consumers do not pass the threshold of 400 kilowatts/hour per month so this measure will not affect KESH revenues or resolve its financial troubles. The debate with interest groups about energy price increases has been coordinated by the National Energy Regulation Entity. What KESH originally had suggested was to issue an overall increase for households and business consumers, not counting the VAT taxes. The average price of electricity would have climbed from 7.13 to 9.78 lek per kilowatt/ hour. For residential consumers this would have meant a 20 percent increase from 7 to 8.4 lek without counting in the VAT. Businesses will have an even higher change with the price becoming 10.8 lek per kilowatt hour. KESH has calculated these prices based upon its current costs, which are above all previous years given the long dry season and the high cost of importing electricity. The issue of price increases has been debated since the beginning of the crisis this past summer. Then, the plan developed into a differentiated scheme with two standards depending on consumption and threshold of 400kw.
Rainfall improves conditions, does not shorten rationing
The increased rainfall during last week has definitely created better conditions for local production. Thus two important plants, at Vau i Dejes and Koman, have been producing energy at normal capacities. According to KESH, it is still early to state that the crisis is over. The water level at Fierza Lake has reached 269.4 meters from last month’s 263. However, experts say that only when the lake reaches 275 m can they be sure that the critical phase is over. The optimum level for domestic production would be reached if the lake’s water level rose to 296 m. Currently, the level of water available is, respectively, at Koman 175 m and in Vau i Dej쳠76 m, and they have been producing at maximum capacity. Nevertheless, the most important source for energy is at the largest hydropower plant in the country, in Fierza. KESH, learning from the experience of recent years in which this plant was overused until it was longer operational, is not intending to use the energy reserves that it can produce without being sure it has optimum conditions to do so.
