[ALBSA-Info] Electricity in the Balkans

[Agron Alibali]

THE ELECTRICITY DAILY 
February 11, 2002, Monday 
Vol. 18, No. 28 

It's Bad Times in The Balkans for Electricity 


When it comes to electricity, it's bad times in the Balkans this winter. Albanians are left without any power or domestic heat for up to 16 hours a day. The situation is similar in Kosovo and Montenegro. The exception is Serbia, where, thanks to foreign donations and fairly well executed reconstructions of power plants, for the first time in this past decade the country is pulling through this winter without major blackouts. Albania is about 95 percent dependant on hydro plants. Because of last year's drought, they have been without sufficient water. Also, poor maintenance has left the entire power system of in a catastrophic condition. 

Most of the former Yugoslavia is in similar position. In the days of socialism, people learned to expect cheap electricity, and had become accustomed to illegally hooking into the power system. On the streets of Kosovo's cities, numerous cables facilitating power theft are easily visible. Only about a third of Kosovo's population is paying for electricity and, added to an inefficient distribution grid, loses are as high as 50 percent. Meanwhile, experts have been trying for two years to raise the capacity factors of Kosovo's thermal plants near Pristina to 50 percent. The plants supply both Kosovo and Macedonia. 

In Serbia, where a new reform government raised electricity prices 120 percent last year, the power industry -- once the greatest exporter in the region -- finally started moving forward. But prices turned out to be too high for average Serbian families. Many Serbian households that use electricity for heating had gotten bills higher than their average monthly income of 7,500 dinars (one U.S. dollar equals about 68 dinars). 

Within next five years, Serbia will need around $5 billion to upgrade and rebuilt its electric system capacity. Due to decreased domestic consumption and its great production capacity, Bulgaria has become the main power exporter in the Balkans. Unfortunately, Bulgaria is also dealing with problems caused by old technology and low-capacity transmission lines. [ML] 



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