Kesh Loses One-Third Of Power

TIRANA, Aug 26 – The Albanian Electro-Energy Corporation, or KESH, loses 33.3 percent of the power passing through its lines, according to the figures released from the Institute of Statistics.
During the first half of this year it lost 1.155 GWh, or 33.3 percent of its electricity, which is the same figure as last year.
Figures also show consumers have increased use of electricity by 13.3 percent compared to the same period last year. Families or private individuals showed an increase of 10.9 percent, the institute said, while other consumers used 16.7 percent more. Statistics also showed that electricity imports increased by 2.6 percent compared to first half of 2007. The country, or its hydropower stations, produced 1.99 GWh which covered 57.3 percent of domestic needs. Through the end of 2007 KESH had not been able to collect some 50 billion leks (about 65 million euro). KESH collected only 73.7 percent from consumer bills, according to the report.