UNMIK/PR/886
Friday, 6 December 2002

Energy Committee Reviews Power Situation in Kosovo

PRISTINA - The Energy Committee met today for the sixth time following the morning visit to B2 power plant by SRSG Michael Steiner.

The SRSG began the meeting by saying “We should congratulate everybody who has been involved in the repair programme since July. All the units that were due to be repaired this year, including B2 and all the A units, have now been repaired to the timescale that was promised.”

Attending the meeting were Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, KEK Managing Director Josef Rieder, chairman of KEK Supervisory Board Charles Carron Brown and KFOR Deputy Commander Major General Jean-Paul Perruche.

KEK General Manager Josef Rieder gave an update to the committee about the repairs to the various power plants. He said that A1, A2, A3 and A4 have now been repaired, while A5 is due back online on 23 December. The B2 turbine has been started but it will need to be run for a few days before coming on line and producing electricity, Mr. Rieder stated.

There was concern expressed that demand for power had increased dramatically compared with the same period last year. In fact, current power consumption was more than the peak demand last winter, and it has still yet to become really cold.

Mr. Rieder warned that the A units are very old and notoriously unreliable. They can only be expected to produce electricity for three days out of every five. This December, with B2 and A5 coming back on line, an extra 420 MW should be available for Kosovo, in addition to the 286 MW from the other four A units. Kosovo would, however, lose the 240 MW currently being imported from Bulgaria.

This will mean that there will still be a shortfall during the winter, when temperatures dip to sub-zero levels.

The Committee was told that this shortfall could only be filled by imports. However, international donor money, available for these imports would run out by the end of this month.

Payment for any imports will have to come from internal KEK revenues. This means people must pay their bills.

Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi said that “the priority now more than ever is that everyone pays their bills and nobody wastes electricity.”

The Committee noted that the increase in power consumption is due to several factors, including the increase in building, generally poor level of insulation, but most of all lack of a culture of conservation in respect of the use of energy. “There is no such thing as free electricity and people must understand this”, said Mr. Rieder.

The Committee emphasized that if consumers did not get serious about saving energy there would be more cuts.

The Committee also discussed problems related to the coal mine at Bardh, which was recently damaged in a landslide.

SRSG Michael Steiner concluded the meeting by setting out Kosovo’s stark choice for electricity, saying, “people must save energy and pay what they use. If they don’t save it and they don’t pay for it, they would lose it.