TIRANA, Oct.21- The rainy season’s start has not improved the water situation in the Drini cascade, where most domestically produced energy comes from. The low temperatures, on the other hand, have induced consumers to increase their electricity consumption for heating by 2 million kilowatt hour compared only to last week. Daily consumption is now at a level of 14.3 million kilowatt / hour.
Official data from KESH reveals that imports have reached 10 million kilowatt hour per day while domestic production has fell from 5.5 to 4.3 million. Only 3.5 million of this electricity is produced at Fierza, where water levels are now 259.6 meters above sea level. The remaining 0.7 million kilowatt / hour is produced at the thermo power plant in Fier.
The winter crisis
Albania has to face yet another difficult winter, according to Economy Minister Genc Ruli, who said that the crisis is going to continue. At the lake of Fierza, low water levels has caused remnants of the old city of Kukes to reveal themselves; a true indicator of just how serious the water problem is. Hence KESH has lowered its electricity production and is planning to conduct a major bid in order to buy energy from abroad. Previous cases have shown that it is very difficult to supply such large amounts of energy as KESH currently needs.
Predictions
Water circulation in the Drini cascade continues to remain below the average of last year’s, at under 50 meter cube/ second. The import of electricity issue is adversely effecting the state budget. KESH is currently operating at a very negative financial balance and hopes to be backed by the government. This expectation is fiercely opposed by the Ministry of Finance and the IMF. An Albanian delegation has visited IMF headquarters in Washington D.C., led by Finance Minister Bode and KESH’s Gjergj Bojaxhi since the IMF needs to approve any measures from the government to support KESH and has already said that KESH threatens the financial budget of the country.
IMF seeks concrete plan to salvage KESH
During a meeting between BoA governor Ardian Fullani, Finance Minister, Ridvan Bode the deputy Director of the IMF, Murilo Portugal, the IMF has asked the Albanians to provide a concrete plan in order to rescue KESH from its financial and energy crisis. The Finance Minister presented the budget of 2008 highlighting the public investments and said that contingency funds are left in order to face situations such a as a prolonged energy crisis. He also aid that he is hoping for KESH to continue its good job in meeting standards. Talking about inflation, all sides agreed that it is being caused by foreign factors which are outside of Albanian influence but that it should be kept under the maximum possible control. Portugal, at the end of the meeting, has insisted once again that the Albanian side create a concrete plan for KESH in order to avoid similar scenarios in the future.
