Lipljan/Batuse
Electricity Situation
Atmosphere
Arsic
“I’m spending the whole day in front of the stove,
lighting fire. Still, the children can’t get warm. They are cold. We have some
wood but it’s just too cold. And without electricity how can we really warm up
the house.”
Nikola Arsic from the village of Batuse in Kosovo Polje
Municipality describing his day. Arsic’s home is one of the more than 3500 [households]
in Kosovo that have been without electricity for almost two months.
Early in 2005, Kosovo’s power outages became a significant
cause for alarm in many European countries – with critics citing humanitarian
concerns towards the consumer policies of Kosovo’s energy provider – KEK. Still,
UNMIK and KEK are holding firm in their position of refusing to repair faulty
electrical lines in areas where there is non-payment of service.
Hello and welcome, from the studios of UN Radio in Kosovo…
According to KEK, 500 Kosovo Serb households have been affected by the power outages. The majority of them still refuse to sign any contract with KEK.
Official numbers indicate that KEK customers owe
KEK near 190-mil euros. KEK stepped up their customer outreach efforts in
December to stop the money hemorrhaging - offering 2 consumer contracts to
non-paying customers: One to establish an account with KEK, and another to deal
with old debts.
Sean McGoldrick, KEK’s executive director explains the new debt settlement policy - non-paying consumers would start to pay KEK a small amount of money every month to erase old debts – which would be added to current consumption bills.
McGoldrick
“This will resolve in paying anything between
1-5% payments every month on your dash, and paying for current consumption. So
it’s very linear policy, and I would encourage people to take advantage of it,
so that they can get into the habit of paying regularly to KEK, which is what
we need in order to survive as a company.”
But, problems exist with this formula – as some Kosovars without a steady income argue about their inability to pay. One Kosovo Serb Nebojsa Arsic from Batuse says his refusal is based on what he calls inconsistent KEK management.
Arsic
“UNMIK and KEK should be blamed for the outages. They were supposed
to let us know in June or July about our bills. We have to know things on time
- not just to cut us off and then to ask us to sign. What are we meant to sign?
How can I sign their contract? I’m not sure if there is even 5 percent employment
in the total population of this village.”
Late last month, UNMIK’s senior advisor on Minority issues
Craig Jenness visited Batuse and Lipljan. He assured Kosovo Serbs without
electricity that on an individual basis and because of humanitarian issues,
solutions could be found to remedying the electrical outages. But he stressed,
contracts have to be signed first.
Nowicki
“I should expect from everyone involved, the flexibility and
the openness to find the solution which will be somehow, at least, satisfactory
for everybody and not to have anymore discussions concerning something so basic
nowadays, as electricity supply.
SRSG Søren Jessen Petersen has been unable to avoid the issue of electrical outages in Kosovo – during a recent trip to Belgrade the power issue dominated discussion - missing person issues, a top item in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, was put on the back burner. UN Radio in Kosovo will continue to follow the issue.
And that concludes today’s pogramme – made possible by cooperation with “Link” TV production in Gracanica. For more information about Link’s other work – email: link_produkcija@hotmail.com