“Day and night, if necessary, I will stay on the street,” says Maliq Mehmeti – a citizen frustrated with the proposal from the Energy Regulatory Office (ERO) to increase electricity prices by 15 percent.
Mehmeti and other citizens are expected to oppose this decision through a protest at the beginning of next month.
The protest is being organized by the group “No to Electricity Price Increase in Kosovo! Not a Cent More.”
Citizen Maliq Mehmeti considers the price increase to be unaffordable, comparing it to prices in European countries.
“It’s very expensive [electricity], more than in the West, more than in Switzerland. I have a son in Switzerland, my wife works, she earns 400 euros, pays 200 for electricity, half of her salary goes for electricity. If my son in Switzerland had to pay, he has a 5,000 franc salary, and he would pay 2,500 francs per month. It’s the same. We can’t afford these prices. We need a massive protest, everyone should come out, young and old. Day and night, if necessary, I will stay on the street,” says Mehmeti.
Citizen Fehmi Aliu also expresses that the proposal for the increase in electricity prices is discriminatory.
“This price is unrealistic, discriminatory for all citizens, and I will join any protest that is organized. On the contrary, considering the standard we have, prices are rising, and if the state doesn’t intervene, no one will stop them,” says Aliu.
The founder of the group, Luan Hasanaj, states that over two thousand citizens have already joined the call, and according to him, they are considering Saturday, April 5, for the protest regarding the price hike.
“The discussion within the group is that the protest should be held on either April 4 or 5. From what we can see, the overwhelming majority of the group members want the protest to be on April 5, as it is a Saturday and a day off. Our activity is daily, contacting businesses, NGOs, and other organized citizen groups because this decision affects everyone. We all want to live normally, and you can’t live normally if you are faced with these enormous price increases in every sector. As if that wasn’t enough, now a 15 percent price increase is being proposed, which will lead to a chain increase in prices in every other sector. We are mobilized and are asking the ERO and their board not to make this decision. The citizens’ opposition is very strong, everyone we speak with, not just businesses, but also citizens, are all ready to get involved, whether through protests or other methods,” emphasizes Hasanaj.
He says they are preparing to launch a campaign urging citizens to boycott paying for electricity, as he believes “citizens also have the right to resist.”
“We are preparing to initiate a campaign that will call for citizens to boycott paying for electricity because if they give themselves the right to burden our lives with decisions that directly affect citizens’ pockets, then citizens also have the right to resist, because this is something that makes normal life impossible. We will not stop; we hope that the decision will not be made first, and I would suggest to the ERO not to make this decision, at least not at this time. Otherwise, the citizens’ opposition will be ongoing. We will not stop with just one protest. So far, over 2,000 citizens have joined in about three to five days, but the number is growing every moment. Almost 1,000 have signed the online petition. Therefore, citizens’ dissatisfaction with this decision is immense,” says Hasanaj.
Economist Adem Qorrolli also considers the increase to be bad news for citizens and businesses.
He says that this decision will affect not only electricity tariffs but also the increase in prices of essential products, which will seriously impact citizens’ daily lives.
“The increase in electricity by 15 percent is not good news for citizens and businesses, because businesses will also have a tariff, paying for electricity before using it, and certainly, institutions are very close to doing business with energy. So, when there is governmental interest in energy deals, then citizens will suffer, and they will also suffer with this 15 percent increase. And they will suffer in all essential products, whether common or otherwise,” says Qorrolli.
A few days ago, the Chairman of the Board of the Energy Regulatory Office, Ymer Fejzullahu, announced in an interview with KosovaPress that a 15 percent increase in energy tariffs for end consumers is expected.
On March 14, the Energy Regulatory Office in Kosovo announced that it has proposed a price hike of about 15 percent for electricity in the coming month.
