Rule of law agenda will succeed only if applied equally for all

TIRANA TIMES EDITORIAL
A move by the Albanian government to crack down on the theft of electricity through tougher punishments and more frequent enforcement is to be applauded. If successful, it will not only increase government income by millions of euros annually, but it will also be a boost Albania’s rule of law image. It will also end the unfair practice under which law-abiding citizens also pay the bills of those who have used electricity for years without paying for it.
Theft of electricity in Albania has been a problem for decades. Its production and distribution are done by state-owned companies, which means 150 million euros annually are drained from the state budget due the fact that nearly half the electricity that enters the power grid is lost, mostly to theft.
While much of the attention focuses on big items like corruption and organized crime, the illegal connections to the power grid and refusal to pay the bills also make up one of the top items in the list of highly visible and widespread challenges to rule of law in Albania. Smoking indoors and breaking road traffic and parking rules are also up on the list that lowers quality of life for many Albanians — and the image-savvy Socialist-led government has taken notice — targeting all these problems — along with the prime minister’s personal favorite, demolishing illegally-constructed buildings across Albania.
We don’t know whether the government will be successful in its drive to make electricity consumers pay — either through fines or prison time. Other governments in the past have also talked tough but ultimately tolerated the fact that half of Albania’s electricity supply is lost either to theft or technology failures in transmission. Much of the tolerance then has been political. Figures show that enforcement of electricity theft rules declines rapidly around election time.
The key to success will be for law enforcement to be uniform and have zero tolerance. State authorities in the past have failed because this has not happened. They have acted arbitrarily only targeting some violators while not punishing others and they have allowed for violations to return after they have been dealt with once. That has eroded public trust and compliance.
This year alone authorities have cut 600,000 illegal connections to the power grid, but many have simply been reconnected because the penalties have been weak and with negligible action by the courts.
Prime Minister Edi Rama says the government would fight all electricity thieves, starting with business owners who steal power for commercial purposes. It makes sense and it will be an easier sell for the public at large, but households must be targeted too — everyone in Albanian society must understand that electricity is a product like any other, and it has a price that must be paid. Those who simply can’t afford the most basic electricity supply must get some government assistance to do so.
Recent changes to the criminal code make it possible for power thieves to be sentenced to three to five years in prison, with higher penalties for business owners. Criminal charges have been filed in 1,512 cases by the power distribution company, OSHEE, since the start of the year, but only 103 have seen trials.
One avenue the government must also look at is property confiscation in bill collection rather than just threatening violators with jail time.
The current government — with general elections still years away — must also be careful in not being perceived as simply acting for political gain. Thus the government must be careful to enforce the law everywhere it finds violations regardless of the area’s political support or pressures.