The Government is making sure the supply of electricity in North Macedonia remains uninterrupted while also avoiding an electricity price shock for consumers, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said in response to a reporter’s question Monday regarding the energy crisis.

“The energy crisis is a European energy crisis,” Prime Minister Kovachevski said, “I always say financial, as well, because there is electricity, but it is much more expensive than gas.” He said the government was taking timely measures to mitigate the consequences of the crisis, such as reducing the VAT from 18 to 5 percent as soon as the crisis started, in order to prevent price shocks.

Also, he said, the state was financially helping the electricity producer EVN Home to deliver electricity at an acceptable price. There was also support for the 35,000 most socially disadvantaged citizens who were getting MKD 1,000 a month to cover their heating costs.

“Another 9,000 families are already receiving monthly support to cover their electricity bills,” PM Kovachevski said. “The government is constantly making decisions ensuring the uninterrupted supply of electricity across the country,” he added. Asked about the recent problems in Skopje’s hot water heating system, he said the Government had to intervene to prevent the power network from crashing because Skopje had been planned to primarily use a hot water district heating system.

“There are 60,000 households in Skopje connected to the hot water district heating system. Skopje’s electricity network was made for hot water heating. If this system does not deliver heat and all citizens switch to electric heating, the power network may fail and cause even bigger problems, not only for citizens but also for companies,” Kovachevski said.