November 18 (SeeNews) - North Macedonia and Serbia are discussing cooperation in electricity production that would ensure cheaper electricity for their citizens, North Macedonia's prime minister Dimitar Kovacevski said.
North Macedonia could produce electricity for the two countries using Serbia's surplus gas, Kovacevski told a joint press conference streamed live by North Macedonia's government on its YouTube profile on Thursday.
He, however, did not elaborate.
The press conference was held as part of a renewable energy conference organised by the Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Norway in Belgrade.
In early October, North Macedonia's economy minister Kreshnik Bekteshi said that Skopje and Belgrade were negotiating a deal under which Serbia would distribute gas to North Macedonia which would be used for the production of electricity at Skopje-based combined cycle power plant TE-TO. The generated electricity will be used by both countries, Bekteshi said at the time.
TE-TO has a heating energy capacity of 160 MW and an electricity production capacity of 220 MW, according to its website.
Serbia raised electricity prices for households and small industrial users by 6.5% on average in September.
In July, North Macedonia decided to introduce a new model for charging electricity consumption of households that increased prices for most consumers by 7.4%.
In September, Bulgarian caretaker prime minister Galab Donev said after meeting Kovacevski that Bulgaria could export up to 200 MWh of electricity to North Macedonia, as the technical details remained to be worked out by a joint working group.