Not only do they have to find a way to supply, but BEG also has an obligation to do so under the Energy Law. Licensees can not stop fulfilling the obligation to deliver public service, the Minister of Economy announced tonight Kreshnik Bekteshi in the show “Top Topic” on Telma.
He added that if they stop supplying heat without first informing the Energy Regulatory Commission that they have a problem, the ERC has the right to revoke their license.
“According to the law, they are also obliged to have quantities to supply heat with alternative fuel in a period of 15 days,” Bekteshi said.
He added that the problem with the heat supply in the part of Skopje-North should be solved through the Municipality of Cair or other institutions with an intervention of 20 million denars.
Minister Bekteshi stressed that Skopje and the municipalities have a legal obligation to help the citizens to increase the price of heating.
– We called on the City of Skopje and the municipalities in the city to get involved by creating measures to meet the needs of the citizens. The City of Skopje and the municipalities should be involved with various programs to directly help the citizens, but also to alleviate the pressure with the liquidity of the companies that supply heat in the city, said Bekteshi.
He added that the central government will help the City of Skopje and the municipalities to transfer funds to local governments to provide natural gas for heating public institutions.
– We as the Government and the Ministry of Economy have been informed about the situation in the Municipality of Cair. The Energy Regulatory Commission has been informed that in the area of public institutions, we have taken responsibility to supply kindergartens, schools, municipal buildings, etc. at the market price of natural gas, said Bekteshi.
He added that BEG has no problems with the quantities of natural gas, which are provided and once again asked the municipality and the administration of the City of Skopje to adopt measures that will further alleviate the situation of citizens, following the ERC decision to increase the price of heating .
The Law on Energy states that for the purpose of safe, secure, uninterrupted and quality supply of heat to consumers in their areas, local self-government units provide conditions for performing the following energy activities: production of heat, distribution of heat and supply of heat energy.
Bekteshi asked why the mayor of the City of Skopje Danela Arsovska and the Council of the City of Skopje did not foresee even a penny in the budget in the energy crisis for 2022. The Government and the Ministry of Economy called on the City of Skopje in their budget for 2022 to allocate funds to alleviate the pressure from the energy crisis on the citizens. It is a show of care for the citizens and the City of Skopje should have that in mind, said Bekteshi in the debate.
He pointed out that the plans for the energy crisis started in August last year, when the candidacies for the local elections were submitted.
-Everyone who is running for management of a certain municipality, should know the situation and what he will expect after taking office.
The candidacies for the local elections were submitted by the end of August, when it was already known that we would have an energy crisis. “Then you had to make a plan for how you would manage the crisis,” Bekteshi said. He added that the City of Skopje can request a reallocation of the earmarked funds that the government has paid to the local self-government in order to deal with the energy crisis.
According to Mayor Arsovska, the city as well as other municipalities do not have any competencies, and are burdened with this situation.
Source: Sloboden Pecat
