Beqaj: Energy prices will not increase

I wish to inform the public that there will be no increase of electricity prices, said the Minister of Economic Development Besim Beqaj on 18 March in a press conference, thus excluding any possibility of increased energy tariffs, as the Government withdrew from its profits.
During this event, Minister Beqaj said that there was much discussion recently on energy prices, and that there were even people that provided assumptions on the percentage of such energy price increase.
“Few days ago we received a memorandum from the Regulator, explaining the Government’s contribution to the energy prices, and I wish to inform the public today that there will be no increase of the price of electricity. This is a fact that depicts our actions earlier today, and consultations with the Regulator,” he said.
According to him, there were expectations of increased profits, however, the Government has relinquished its profits, hence it should be realistically expected that the Energy Regulatory Office will soon issue its decision not to increase energy prices.
“Therefore I would like to hereby appeal to all those that manipulated with the issue of energy prices, predicting that there will be increases of 11%, 13% or 30%, and explain that this is not true. There will be no increases since the Government has undertaken to relinquish its profits in order to avoid any increase of energy prices. This is the information I wanted to share with the citizens today,” Beqaj said.
The Head of MED said that he understands recent concerns of citizens related to their electricity invoices and informed that the Government is very cautious in treating all appeals and complaints individually, while guaranteeing that no inflated invoice will be paid by citizens, and that, on the contrary, KEK will reimburse the citizens for all excessive amounts paid for such invoices.
“Therefore, I wish to ask our citizens for understanding, and invite them not to fall prey of political games, and to believe that the power of argument will always prevail in their relation with the Government whose protection they will always enjoy. I expect that KEK, the operation of which is monitored by the Energy Regulatory Office, will act responsibly and will remedy all omissions noted by the ERO,” said Minister Beqaj.
He added that the Government supports citizens’ interests, but will by no means allow to be manipulated by such measures, noting that this represents good news for Kosovo citizens, as it closes the manipulations and calculations that certain people continue to perform on institutions’ account.

energjia.al, 18.03.2013