In its efforts to stop this phenomenon, CEZ Shperndarje seeks the support and help of its customers encouraging those who witness a robbery to inform the police or the company’s dispatch centres
TIRANA, May 10 – Considering the latest incident in the district of Fier, the distribution power operator CEZ Shperndarje, expresses its concern over the alarming issue of the theft of the company’s assets. The latest case was registered a few days ago when 600 metres of copper cable from the high-voltage network was stolen leaving around 8,000 inhabitants of three villages in the Topoje commune of Fier district, without power.
Since 2010 the company has had 169 transformers, 10 km of copper cable, 47 tonnes of copper transmission cable, and 4,571 kg of steel transmission cable stolen. The perpetrators have not only caused the company considerable financial damage but have also left respective communities and fair CEZ Shperndarje customers without power, leading to damage of household electrical appliances as was the case of “Fusha e Aviacionit” area and the “Pandi Dardha” street in Tirana a few weeks ago.
CEZ Shperndarje says it is using all its available tools, but these efforts cannot lead to a solution without the assistance of public order authorities. The truth is that the robbery of these assets is not damaging only the company, but also Albanian households, private businesses and local authorities because these thefts have a direct impact on the quality of service, investment plans and energy tariffs.
In its efforts to stop this phenomenon, CEZ Shperndarje seeks the support and help of its customers encouraging those who witness a robbery to inform the police or the company’s dispatch centres.
Ardian Luarasi, the Network Operation and Maintenance director of CEZ Shperndarje, says the theft of assets is the most widespread and frequent form the company encounters all over Albania. “These robberies are often made by groups of people or individuals to sell the metals of the grid. But apart from the robbery of assets we are often facing damage by private companies working in road repair or other lines. The company contracted to build the Shkodra Ring Road was a very concerning case for us causing considerable damage in underground network and cabin. To date some 21 power failures have been registered and the CEZ is filing a lawsuit for these repeated cases,” said Luarasi.
The CEZ official says that in each case of asset theft in the medium voltage, the number of affected customers varies from 2,000 to 8,000 and for each case of robbery in cabins the number varies from 100 to 300 customers.
“Closer cooperation with police is needed and efficient measures by them to catch and punish the perpetrators, otherwise I think it will be very difficult to prevent theft cases,” added Luarasi.
Asked about what the customer can do in case the theft of an asset damages household electrical appliances, Mr Luarasi says customers can address their claims in the 43 customer care centre the company has all over Albania. “CEZ Shperndarje carefully examines them and carries out field inspections regarding complaints of damage caused by the quality of power supply and based on field verifications a decision is taken and the customer is informed about it within the legal deadline as expressed in the power contract.”
The phone numbers of regional dispatch centres
Northern region (The regions of Dibra, Kuk쳬 Lezha and Shkodra) 0228 01023/ 0228 01024/ 0228 01025
Central Region (The regions of Tirana and Durr쳩 04 2355269/ 04 2355270/ 04 2358888
South-West Region (Regions of Fier, Gjirokastra and Vlora) 034 210000/ 034 210001/ 034 210002
South-East Region (Regions of Elbasan, Kor衠and Berat) 054 221000/ 054 221001/ 054 221002
