We are not considering raising the price of electricity, says the Prime Minister

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski today said that he is not considering raising the price of electricity and that current reservoir levels give him sufficient security of supply for households and industry.

The response came after a reporter asked how much investments in renewable sources will increase the resilience of the energy system to climate change, which he said are not only ecological issues but also an energy challenge.

Mickoski pointed out that in parts of Europe low river levels, such as the Danube, are squeezing the energy market, but that a mechanism has been created in the country to avoid the same scenario.

"As a country we managed to create a mechanism so that this does not happen. I can say that our reservoirs at this moment, at the end of the irrigation season, are around 70 percent and we have almost five hundred gigawatt-hours of accumulated electrical energy. Completely enough for us to feel safe, comfortable and to not have a challenge in terms of the electricity supply for citizens and industry. And we will not hold panic press conferences, we will not call for caution in saving, because we took care much earlier so that this would not happen. I am happy and satisfied that we passed the irrigation season as we planned, and still at this time of the month, August 6, we have over 70 percent of the reservoirs full and the hydroelectric plants ready to produce electricity. We are not considering raising the price of electricity, we are making a plan to find a formula to reduce it or at least to increase the cheap tariff, unlike the majority of countries in Europe that plan to raise the price of electricity,"

he added that according to global energy experts, the war in Iran represents the largest energy crisis in history, but that the Government did not act in panic.

"Since that conflict began, we have witnessed that a large number of politicians, including politicians from the region, held panic press conferences, trying to point to the challenge that was happening and its consequences. We did not despair; on the contrary, we sent messages of calm. That we have sufficient reserves, that there is no need to limit exports from our capacities, that we are here to help also the citizens of neighboring countries by offering the lowest fuel prices and in that way fuel consumption increased by around fifty percent on certain days due to the pressure exerted by citizens from neighboring countries. We offered fuels roughly half a euro per liter cheaper compared to what certain neighbors had. The policy of this Government is to work quietly, but all of that to add value to the quality of life,"

Mickoski noted and added that capital projects are being implemented in the energy sector, citing as an example the private wind park of the company Alkazar.

Photo: Government