Kosovar and international non-governmental organizations have today officially filed an official complaint with the Energy Community, namely with the dispute resolution mechanism, challenging the legality of the power purchase agreement for the planned coal-based energy project Kosova e Re, which it is currently awaiting ratification by the parliament of Kosovo.
The complaint states that the 20-year power purchase agreement signed by the Kosovo government with Contour Global in December 2017 fails to comply with Energy Community Treaty rules on state aid because it provides Contour Global with a host of benefits that give it an unfair advantage over other energy producers.
The contract would also place an unbearable burden on the state budget and Kosovar electricity consumers, as it guarantees that a state-owned company will buy all the energy produced by Contour Global at a "target price" of 80 euros/ MWh - much higher than current electricity prices in the region.
What's more, when the electricity isn't needed, the state still guarantees an "availability payment" to the company and has pledged to pay grid charges to Contour Global, reimbursing it for a "take-or-pay" deal that she signed with the state company that owns the lignite mine and offered the land for the power plant to the company for a symbolic sum of 10 euros.
"80 euros/MWh would be bad enough, but with all these additional fees, no one seems to know how much this will end up costing consumers and taxpayers. Many people in Kosovo cannot pay their bills of electricity even now, so it is unlikely that they will absorb these increases. The state will end up emptying its current modest budget into Contour Global's pockets," explains Visar Azemi from the Balkan Green Foundation, reports Koha. nights.
"To say that the Kosovo government has made a terrible mistake would be an understatement," added Pippa Gallop of the CEE Bankwatch Network. international organizations such as the Energy Community and the European Commission to ensure that it is not ratified, for the sake of Kosovo's consumers and taxpayers."
"The most painful part is that almost a third of Kosovo's electricity is lost from the distribution system due to technical losses and non-payment of bills, so the priority should be to fix this and increase the share of renewable energy sources , not throwing money that we don't have into another coal-fired power plant", concluded Agron Demi.
