At its regular session on November 29, the government in Skopje approved more than 11.5 million euros from the state budget for the company AD ESM in order to fight the energy crisis. Less than three months ago, 50 million euros were transferred to the company.
Also, at the beginning of the year – in January and February, the Macedonian government transferred a total sum of almost 80 million euros on several occasions. During November, ESM Prodaja received an additional 7.7 million euros to subsidize electricity for companies in the food sector, schools and water utilities.
This means that 150 million euros of budget money was spent this year to overcome the energy crisis. This amount does not include last year’s state aid for ESM, as well as the funds that the state electricity producer received for ensuring the supply of thermal energy.
The government previously announced that from November 1 until the end of the heating season, three units at the Bitolj Thermal Power Plant, one block at the Oslomej Thermal Power Plant, as well as the Negotino Thermal Power Plant will operate at full capacity, in addition to the hydroelectric power plants.
Even though it is already December, unit 3 of the Bitol thermal power plant is not working because the installation of the new transformer is pending. Neither the Oslomej nor Te Negotino unit is working, which was supposed to be in operation until the end of November after the failure of the unit, although calculations show that at the moment the production of electricity based on fuel oil is unprofitable.
During November, ESM imported electricity on five occasions, for which more than 20 million euros were spent. For now, there is no information about new purchases, but ESM announces that in December they will work with a higher capacity and import less electricity.
Source: faktor.mk
