State-owned power utility ESM said that it welcomes the measures taken by the Government of North Macedonia and Energy Regulatory
Commission (RKE) in order to overcome the crisis with the provision of district heating services in the capital Skopje.
According to the decision, ESM will take over the management of Balkan Energy Group (BEG) in the field of heat supply until the end of the crisis. The takeover of three BEG entities (Production, Distribution and Supply), as well as district heating provider Skopje Sever, is expected during next week.
In the meantime, ESM signed an agreement with electricity and thermal energy producer TE-TO Skopje, according to which, TE-TO Skopje will increase its production, i.e. it will operate at full capacity (277 MW) seven days a week, instead of five as before. Produced electricity will be taken over by ESM, while thermal energy will be delivered to BEG and Skopje Sever in order to provide heating for the capital.
Previously, TE-TO Skopje operated only during working days, selling electricity to ESM and thermal energy to district heating providers.
However, it did not operate during weekends because the sale of thermal energy could not cover its operational costs, due to the lack of
electricity purchases by ESM. Therefore, citizens of Skopje were left without heating during weekends in the past few weeks.
