The Ministry of Economy has responded to the Energy Community on criticism for delaying the start of full liberalization of the electricity market.
In the letter of the Minister Bekim Nezri it was emphasized that the decision was taken in order to protect citizens from the dramatic rise. Nezri said that the current domestic price increased by 17% from January 1st, 2015th which is unacceptable.
“The explanation that the deadline postpone was brought to protect consumers is totally wrong from the Macedonian Government. It just tries to justify a clear measure of support monopolistic position. There are other ways to protect households and small consumers from dramatic price increases, which are less detrimental for the market and which are carried out according to the relevant rules of the Energy Community”, said Director of the EC Secretariat Janez Kopac.
“If this law is enacted, the Energy Community Secretariat will initiate proceedings against Macedonia because of procedure violations and this will be done as soon as the deadline for full market liberalization passes from January 1st, 2015th. I was shocked by this decision, because we were not informed, despite cooperation signed with the Ministry of Economy and the Regulatory Commission for Energy 2011th. Decision was adopted on the same day when the European Commission published a report on the progress of the candidate countries for EU membership. I believe that this is not a coincidence. If this law had been published earlier, I believe that the evaluation report of Macedonia in the field of energy would have been completely different”, Kopac reacted shortly.
