OSHEE officials negate their earlier promise by bringing back partial bill amnesty program with new July 15 deadline after 200,000 people did not heed the government’s warning to pay up
TIRANA, May 14 – The state-owned power distributor, OSHEE, has resumed a program that makes it less painful for private consumers to pay their overdue bills, despite two official statements in the past that it would not offer the program in the future.
The program, which allows consumers to pay what they owe in installments or in full to avoid 80 percent of accumulated fees and penalties — is to resume until July, the company said.
Albania holds municipal elections on June 21, and the tough collection measures used by OSHEE in cooperation with police have caused anger among many Albanians.
OSHEE officials said that Albanians who had not already done so would have more than two months to sign up for a scheme that allows the payment of 2,500 leks per month on top of the usual monthly bill, or 1,000 leks for families on social assistance.
Energy Minister Damian Gjiknuri said that “200,000 citizens who have accumulated debts and had not been able to make use of the scheme until March 31st, will be allowed to do so until July 15th.”
The move goes directly against what OSHEE head Adrian Cela had promised earlier this year.
“I want to emphasize that this is the last time we have this program offered,” Cela said in a television interview just ahead of a deadline earlier this year that sent thousands of Albanians to OSHEE offices to sign up to avoid the penalties.
Cela said that the debt for these 200,000 consumers mounts to a total of 39 billion leks. Out of the 300,000 agreements signed in March, Cela said that less than 5,000 consumers had broken the deal and were again not paying.
The government started late last year a nationwide campaign collecting all debts from all consumers, cutting the supply to all those with overdue bills. Hundreds of arrests for theft followed for people who were taking electricity without proper contracts.
OSHEE has turned a profit for the first time in its history through police-assisted collections, which some commentators and the political opposition have called “heartless” for targeting the poorest Albanians hardest.
Most of those arrested were business owners, however, according to the government.
Last month alone, OSHEE collected $50 million from the consumers or $10 million more than a year ago.
The company said it would spend the money to invest in improvements to the power network.
But authorities also warned all debtors along the coastline they should immediately come and sign the new deal or they will be cut off from the power supply ahead of the tourist season.
There is also increasing evidence OSHEE officials are over-billing customers ahead of the elections to collect more funds through fictive readings, a repeated practice over the years.
In the port city of Durres, for example, residents showed reporters OSHEE bills that clearly had inflated readings that did not reflect the numbers on their power meters.
In the past, the company had ordered consumers to pay the overdue bills even though they were inflated and not based on actual readings. When they refused, their power was cut.
OSHEE said it would investigate the claims.
