Government warns CEZ

“We have an Energy Regulation Entity that is independent from the government. It depends from the Parliament and we are ready for all measures that this entity will take in a given moment. It functions based on a law. We have a privatization agreement for this company, and the fulfillment of the mutual obligations is indispensable”, Bode declared.

The CEZ crisis has infected the public finances. The government will give 40-50 million USD as guarantee for the Albanian Power Corporation (KESH), so that the public company will compensate the import that CEZ has failed to complete. The Czech Company has cut all energy imports from this September, obliging KESH to produce with maximal capacity.

As result, the water reserves dried up and the Fierza Lake level is only five meters over the critical point, where the hydropower plant doesn’t produce anymore energy. Being in this situation and after meeting some World Bank experts who arrived in Tirana for this matter, the government accepted to increase the public debt by guaranteeing the loan for KESH.

The energy sector remains a permanent danger for the finances and the public debt, even after the privatization of the distribution in 2009. With the recent guarantee, the government’s subventions for energy mount up to 70 million USD, 20 million of which were used to help KESH in the beginning of the year, while the rest was used for not allowing the collapse of the system due to the financial crisis of CEZ.

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