New ERE director takes over

TIRANA, June 27 – Sokol Ramadani has taken over as the new director of the country’s Energy Regulatory Entity replacing Bujar Nepravishta who resigned last March citing personal reasons. The candidacy of Ramadani, the former head of the state-owned electricity Transmission System Operator, was approved last week by Parliament receiving only 72 votes by majority MPs. His predecessor, Nepravishta had kept the post for five years but submitted his irrevocable resignation to Parliament on Feb. 20, 2011 because of family reasons. Speaking to reporters, the new ERE director said consumer protection would remain the key priority for the independent decision-making body on electricity prices. Ramadani reiterated the new contract consumers will sign with private owned CEZ Shperndarje will be ready by next September. The inspection of power meters, a task currently carried out by the Czech owned company, but expected to be performed by the Directorate of Metrology soon, will be another important issue on ERE’s agenda. Last December, Albania’s Energy Regulatory Agency decided to keep electricity prices for 2011 unchanged, turning down requests by the three local operators who had asked for an increase in power prices by an average of 12 percent.