TIRANA, May 27 – Household electricity prices were already higher than in eight out 38 European countries in Albania at the end of 2014 just ahead of a new hike, according to a report published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
At Euro 11.6 per 100 kWh (VAT included), Albania’s household electricity prices in the second half of 2014 were already higher than EU members Bulgaria and Hungary and EU aspirants Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and on par to Iceland which has officially dropped its EU bid.
Price in these countries vary from €5.9 per 100 kWh in Kosovo to €6 in Serbia, €8.1 and €8.2 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia, €9.9 in Macedonia including all taxes and levies.
Albania’s electricity prices underwent a new hike in January 2015 through a unified rate for household consumer and higher rates for business consumers.
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.
Business consumers are also facing higher electricity prices starting January 2015 except for bakeries and flour mills whose prices have remained unchanged.
In Albania power prices, which take a considerable part of households’ monthly income, had remained unchanged since the end of 2009 when the Energy Regulatory Entity (ERE) approved the latest increase in electricity tariffs. Yet, the electricity prices in Albania are relatively high considering that Albania has the lowest GDP per capita expressed in purchasing power standards.
Albania’s GDP per capita, a measure of economic activity, and the actual individual consumption, an indicator of the material welfare of households, ranks among the poorest in Europe, at almost a third of the EU 28, according to the latest Eurostat data.
