UN Radio

Winter heating in Kosovo

By Birol Urcan

Hello and welcome from UNMIK On air

Natural sound -wood chopping

Alaudin Janjevaliu from Prishtina has just bought his wood for the winter.

He preferred wood for winter warming because of the electricity cuts, but that is not the only reason.

“It’s cheaper, I warm one room and my family spend most of their time only in that room, electricity is very expensive “

Prishtina wood market on the end of October is crowded

It is the peak time for selling.

The prices of wood vary from 30 to 35 euros per meter.

Natural sound –customer chatting with Isuf

Isuf Haxholli sells wood in the market, he seems to be very happy with his sales for this season.

“This year the business with wood, it’s better than the last year, for example this year we sell 20 meters woods a day, and last year we sold 12”

Natural Gas is one of the energy sources introduced after the war in Kosovo.

Five years later, gas energy is becoming more and more popular among Kosovans.

Compared with last year the price of gas has risen from 45 to 50 cents, per litter.

But regardless of this increase, gas station owners’ claim- this year their sales are higher.

Sherif Salihu is the owner of one of the gas stations in Prishtina;

To him heating with gas have lots of benefits such as a cheaper price compared to other means of heating, and saving the environment.

“One gas bottle of 10 kilos can help save the chunk of wood of 40 centimeters diameter and 5 meters height, and when we save the woods we save the environment”

Globally direct electrical heating for the home or business is not the preferred method, as the cost of electricity is comparatively high, however almost uniquely in Kosovo, where there is a very high level of non-bill payment, electricity is the preferred method of heating.

This makes Palok Berisha, the spokes person of KEK, one of those rare officials who appeals for the product of his company to be consumed less.

“The annual financial cost of heating with electricity is 60 million euros for all of Kosovo, and we would be able to supply 24 hours non stop electricity (for all of Kosovo) if Kosovars would not heat with electric energy.”

So the message of KEK for this winter remains the same.

Don’t count on electricity for heating this winter, because you may have a very cold winter.

Thank you for listening to UNMIK ON AIR, have a good day