Macedonia adopts crucial energy law to further liberalise electricity market

Macedonia adopts crucial energy law to further liberalise electricity market
By Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje April 3, 2018

The Macedonian government has adopted the crucial EU-requested energy law that foresees further liberalisation of the electricity market to include small firms and households.

The law envisages the liberalisation of the electricity market from 2019, allowing households and small firms to choose their supplier. The law is fully aligned with EU energy legislation.

The draft law, adopted last week, was presented by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Koco Angjusev and Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi on April 3. The new draft law is pending parliament approval.

Angjusev said that with the adoption of the law, Macedonia will implement five European directives and three European regulations, and besides that it will meet obligations towards the Energy Community, the government said in a statement.

"The Republic of Macedonia is a signatory to the Energy Community Treaty and as such has an obligation to implement the European legislation in the energy sector,” the deputy PM said.

This law was supposed to be adopted in 2014, but the approval process was prolonged by the previous government led by the conservative VMRO-DPMNE party.

According to the law, starting from 2019, state-owned power producer ELEM will be obligated to direct 80% of its production to the universal supplier, which will be selected via a tender.

Gradually this percentage will be lowered, and in 2025 only 30% of ELEM’s production should be handed over to the universal supplier.

The draft law also specifies the ownership of state-owned energy companies and thus will decentralise the competence of the government. ELEM will remain under government control, while transmission operator MEPSO will be under the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and Macedonian Energy Resources (MER), a company which develops gasification projects in Macedonia, will be run by the Ministry of Economy.

"The adoption of this law marks the end of the monopoly and will give consumers a choice. Small and medium enterprises will have the opportunity to choose their electricity and gas supplier,” Bekteshi said.

This will increase competitiveness on the market though different tariffs.

Angjusev underlined that the draft Energy Law foresees increased usage of renewable energy sources.

The liberalisation of the electricity market in Macedonia started in 2008 when big industrial consumers were allowed to choose their supplier. The second stage continued in 2014 when 230 companies with annual revenues of €10mn were included in the process.

However, the following stages that envisaged market liberalisation for small firms and households planned for 2015 and delayed until 2016 were not implemented. The explanation was that the electricity prices would increase if the government allowed further market liberalisation.

According to earlier data, as of April 2014, about 44% of the electricity market in Macedonia had been liberalised.

 

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