Additional quantities of electricity and heat are provided through the cogeneration plant “AUTHOR” which will operate seven days a week at full capacity. Excess electricity will buy it AD ESM, for which the two companies are expected to sign an agreement today.
The measure was adopted by the Government at yesterday’s session, and will be valid until the end of the month with the possibility to be extended, if necessary, because a energy crisis has been declared in the country.
On the other hand, yesterday afternoon the heat production company “Balkan Energy”, which supplies a large number of households in Skopje, said that there are funds for gas supply only until the end of today and asked the Government to temporarily take over the management of the company until the end of the crisis in this heating season.
– The liquidity of PTBE is rapidly depleted and there are funds for gas supply by the end of tomorrow. As a socially responsible company, we inform that we do not have more resources to provide financing for the heating season without state aid to compensate the tariff for production of heat, so we will not be able to continue with the production of heat. In order to ensure uninterrupted production of thermal energy in PTBE, we proposed the Government to take over the temporary management of the company starting from 14.01.2022 until the end of the crisis situation in this heating season, stated BEG in yesterday’s announcement.
They informed that in the fourth quarter of 2021 they managed to amortize the market risks and ensure that the growth of the gas price does not affect the price of thermal energy delivered to consumers, but that the energy crisis that continues in the new 2022 with high gas price on stock exchanges directly affects the operating costs of the company.
– The heat tariff approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission covers an insignificant part of these increased costs. The Government and our company have made great efforts to cover the financial gap between the purchase price of natural gas and the approved cost of the tariff for production of heat, which for January 2022 is nine million euros. However, due to objective obstacles to securing financial resources from the state, a solution to this burning problem has not yet been found. In the meantime, since the beginning of the heating season, PTBE has independently financed the supply of natural gas from its limited current assets and inflows. The price of gas for January 2022, according to the agreement with the supplier of natural gas, is determined as the average price of January futures in December 2021, when the prices on the stock exchanges reached the highest level. We receive great help from the company TE-TO AD which with its deliveries of thermal energy in the system reduces the need for procurement of natural gas in the amount of additional five million euros. The government has called for the immediate payment of overdue invoices to budget consumers. However, the liquidity of PTBE is rapidly depleted and there are funds for gas supply by the end of tomorrow, said the BEG.
Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi, who explained the government decision at a press conference yesterday, said that putting TETO at full capacity will provide additional quantities of both electricity and heat.
– The takeover of electricity from AD TETO will additionally provide production of heat for the regulated distributor of heat BEG, which will enable continuous, quality and economically viable supply of heat to consumers in the City of Skopje and at the same time The existence of a crisis situation in the electricity supply will enable the saving of the natural resources that AD ESM uses for the production of electricity, said Bekteshi.
The government on Tuesday came up with a proposal to cover 80 percent of the difference between the real and current price of central heating, and to cover the remaining 20 percent. The City of Skopje together with the Skopje municipalities. The City informed that they do not have the resources to help cover part of the costs of BEG for the supply of natural gas, for which yesterday they were criticized by the advisory group of SDSM in the Council of the City of Skopje.
– Arsovska this year will spend 670.000 euros on 109 employments of VMRO-DPMNE party staff in the City of Skopje, but does not plan to give money to the citizens of Skopje not to pay more for heating, said Ljubica Janceva, coordinator of the SDSM advisory group in the Council of The City of Skopje.
According to the mayor of the City of Skopje, national measures should be adopted to save from the energy crisis, but that is the responsibility of the central and not the local government.
– It should take everything necessary for the citizens to be protected and to spend the winter as they deserved. Not only was the amount they paid increased by 14 percent, but they also deserve better conditions. National measures to save this crisis need to be adopted and they need to be adopted by the central government. Local government can not carry out national measures and policies. “Our position is consistent – we have no competence and no opportunities,” Arsovska told TV 21 yesterday.
She believes that the responsibility should be borne by the Government because it did not resolve the situation when it had the opportunity and did not think about the repercussions of the increase in energy prices on world stock markets. It is a precedent, said Arsovska, for the Government to ask the city to be a savior for the problem with the energy crisis.
Otherwise, the price at which AD ESM will buy the excess electricity that will be produced in TETO is 170 euros per megawatt hour.
– The price at which AD ESM will take over the additionally produced electricity from the manufacturer AD TETO is 170 euros per megawatt hour and is the production price of electricity from a combined heat and power plant for production of natural gas with a calculated selling price of natural gas. in the Republic of Northern Macedonia for January 2022, announced yesterday Bekteshi.
Source: Sloboden Pecat
