TIRANA, Dec.22- “KESH has already used its 5 billion lek loan through the end of this year, thus exhausting its financing opportunity for 2008 from the government, which will no longer give subsidies to it,” recently declared Finance Minister, Ridvan Bode. This decision will most likely assure the passing on of an energy price increase as KESH has requested a price hike of almost 37 percent and the National Energy Entity has approved the request. Earlier this year, the Prime Minister denied the request for a price increase saying it would hurt household consumers. Bode has clarified that the funds given to KESH have been transferred as a five percent GDP loan in order to decrease the expenses of the corporation for 2007. The declaration of the minister comes at a time where water levels in the Drini cascade have improved and so has local energy production.
Price rise differentiated for households and business
Energy prices will go up next year for both households and business companies. An approximate date of March 1 when consumers will feel the extra costs of purchasing energy. KESH has asked for a 37 percent increase in order to decrease its financial dependency from state budget funds and be able to import the needed amount of electricity required by Albania. According to the KESH proposal, the price for household consumers needs to change from 7 lek to 8.4 lek per kilowatt/ hour, an increase of 20 percent. For those consumers who use less than 400kWh the price increase will be more moderate, around 4.3 percent, from 7 to 7.3 lek. All energy spent above this cap will cost 12 lek/kWh. The larger increase will fall on business, which will have to deal with an increase of 52%. Those businesses which need high tension energy will have to pay up to a 90 percent increase.
