November 8 (SeeNews) - Kosovo has fulfilled its highest priority task by adopting the EU's Third Energy Package in June 2016 followed by a large number of secondary acts that enabled market opening, the Energy Community has said.
“With adoption of the energy performance of buildings law and closure of the related infringement case, Kosovo achieved substantial progress in energy efficiency. The infringement linked to non-transposition of the energy services directive is yet to be rectified,” the secretariat of the Vienna-based organization said in its 2016/2017 annual implementation report published earlier this week.
The priority of Kosovo's energy regulatory office (ERO) should be the issue of a preliminary opinion on the certification of state-owned KOSTT as a transmission system operator under the Third Energy Package and ask the secretariat for an opinion, according to the conclusions in the report.
The report also said that KOSTT should start procuring balancing services and also strengthening regional cross-border balancing cooperation.
The Kosovo wholesale and retail electricity markets continue to be dominated by the state-owned energy corporation (KEK) and the privately-owned public electricity supplier KESCO. Despite the market opening, KESCO still supplies electricity to all final consumers, the Energy Community noted.
Two foreign suppliers obtained a licence in 2016 but none of them has been active so far, according to the report.
Some 98% of electricity generated in Kosovo comes from two old, inefficient and highly polluting lignite-fired power plants, Kosovo A and B. Kosovo citizens suffer power shortages due to insufficient output, ageing grids and thefts. Imports account for about 10% of electricity supply, according to a recent World Bank report on Kosovo's energy sector.
The Energy Community was established in October 2005 with the key aim of extending the EU internal energy market to Southeast Europe and beyond on the basis of a legally binding framework. The international organisation consists of the EU, represented by the European Commission, and the countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.