Dear representatives of the media,

Dear citizens,

First, I would like to begin with endless gratitude to the employees and the management of our thermal power plants for their self-denial work throughout the entire weekend, which enabled the return to operation of Units B1 and A5 yesterday and early this morning. On this occasion I would also like to address some disinformation that has circulated during the last few days, that there has never been any moment when KEK produced 0 MW/h or that Kosovo at any moment was in an energy collapse, as has been reported by some.

Dear citizens, we face challenges in the energy sector because our security of supply depends on 62 and 42 year old thermal power plants, because they have never been rehabilitated. One reason why, since April, we do not have all the units in operation is that for the first time at the “Kosovo B” power plant we are modernizing the turbines and consequently Unit B2 is out of operation so that these operations can be carried out for almost six months. This is a temporary but necessary sacrifice, and we must do it now because it was not done in due time when import prices were three times cheaper.

It is said, among other things, that these are regular overhauls that are being carried out at the “Kosova B” power plant, that they have always been carried out. This is not accurate. These are being done for the first time. Small interventions have been carried out, hundreds of tenders that in total have cost more than one billion euro have gone into our power plants, however rehabilitations and modernizations such as the ones we have now begun have never been undertaken. For the first time at the “Kosovo B” power plant we are modernizing the turbines plus installing filters and a series of accompanying investments in cooling towers and others that will increase capacity by 80 MW and will significantly reduce pollution when they are completed.

This is the turbine modernization. Thus, it is one of those single-source contracts that has been mentioned for some years now, concluded with the American company General Electric because it possesses the expertise of the original technology of “Kosovo B” when it was initially built, in the Energy Strategy adopted three years ago in which it was decided to rehabilitate at least one unit of the Kosovo A power plant. This was based on the fact that the combination of rehabilitating Kosovo A with renewable energy sources was by far the cheapest option compared with other options that involved gas and were being considered. Based on this, KEK has begun preparing the tender documentation for the deep rehabilitation of Unit A3, and for this, as a Government, we have requested technical support from USAID and we have been very fortunate that they have offered technical assistance for the preparation of the tender documentation.

I personally have not had nor have I seen the tender dossier, but KEK informs me that the tender documentation announced by KEK is open, competitive and non-discriminatory, in full compliance with the Law on Public Procurement and international standards, and that part of this process are also clear performance criteria and transparency for participation. However, KEK itself, as the holder of this competitive procedure, will make its own statement on this.

Moreover, I heard that today in a press conference there have been statements that KEK expects six bidders in the tender. I heard this for the first time and I do not know whether this is accurate. In my question to KEK, their answer was this: The procurement process for the rehabilitation and modernization of Unit A3 is managed through the official e-procurement platform, which does not allow access to information on the number of bidders until the official opening of bids. Therefore, any public statement that there are six economic operators that have bid at this stage is not only technically impossible to verify, but constitutes a violation of the principles of confidentiality, fair competition and integrity of the public procurement process. The Ministry of Economy requests accountability from the declarant for the source of this information and invites the relevant bodies to verify whether there has been any data leakage or unauthorized access to the electronic procurement system.

Recently, a series of disinformation has also circulated regarding the import of electricity in Kosovo. The first is the claim that imports during the last four years have increased to over 3,000 GW hours. These figures are simply inaccurate, as KOSTT also informed today in a media release. If we can see, the first figure is the one that has been presented, according to which there is an increase to over 3,000 MW/h of imports during the recent years, the last four years. Whereas this second figure that you are seeing is the official and accurate information published today by KOSTT, and as you can see the correct figure shows that imports in Kosovo have been somewhere around 1,000 to about 1,500 GWh and not over 3,000 as has been said. I do not know where they are getting this information, however, if they are referring to ASK it would be good to present the full information on the calculation method and the definition of the indicator. Because, for example, if you look at the ASK energy statistics for March 2025, it clearly states that in this information, in this data, the quantities of international transmission are also included, namely the transit energy that passes through Kosovo. This is as if we were to say that all the goods that are exported from North Macedonia to Montenegro and pass through Kosovo are to be counted as Kosovo’s imports, which makes no sense whatsoever.

Secondly, during the last few days it has been said that Kosovo is importing energy from Serbia, wrongly referring to the physical flows of energy in the transmission lines between Kosovo and Serbia. Meanwhile, anyone who knows even a little about the energy sector is aware that trading on the lines between Kosovo and Serbia has been blocked since the energy independence of Kosovo in 2020. On this occasion I would also like to recall something that I have pointed out several times over these years and that anyone who has any connection with energy or wishes to know is aware that the Government does not buy energy.

The address for questions about how energy is purchased, at what price, by which route, and from which operators, you have with the supplier KESCO as the main supplier, a company privatized back in 2013, which now has no connection whatsoever with the Government of the Republic of Kosovo.

Thirdly, there is talk about the costs of cross-border capacities that reached extraordinarily high prices during certain hours on several days of last year, alluding to accusations against KOSTT and ERO in this matter. It is important that everyone be clear that the import of electricity is not carried out by KOSTT but by the licensed suppliers, as KOSTT also stated today. KOSTT and the other system operators in the region are obliged, under European directives, to make the use of cross-border capacities available through the market.

This is done through the regional offices in the European Union via the JAO office, while in South-East Europe through the South-East Europe CAO, SECAO office. Since November 2020, when border control or the energy independence of Kosovo, as we commonly call it, was operationalized, Kosovo has also been allocating cross-border capacities through the SECAO office. It is KOSTT, as the transmission operator, that does this. There, cross-border capacities between Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece and Turkey are traded. Thus KOSTT allocates the capacities, while ERO has the responsibility to monitor ex-ante, in advance, and ex-post, after the fact, the implementation of the regulatory framework and any eventual investigations, just as it investigated the operators for their behavior during the energy crisis and, for example, fined KEDS and KESCO around 12 million euro some years ago for supply and deviations, during the time of the 2021-2022 crisis. ERO has publicly declared that it has been investigating this matter since December of last year. We expect ERO to treat with priority and seriousness every suspicion of manipulation by the private companies that carried out the trading.

You know that the Board of ERO, as an independent institution, is appointed by the Assembly and reports to the Assembly. The same applies to the Board of KOSTT. In my capacity as Minister, that is all I can say on this matter, but as a political representative I can say that the parliamentary group of the Vetëvendosje Movement will address the responsibilities and will ensure that, in case the handling of this issue by ERO or by KOSTT has not been appropriate, the responsible persons will be held accountable.

Since I am in the process of refuting disinformation, allow me also to give a brief clarification regarding the solar auction announced two years ago by the Ministry of Economy. For context, for those who do not know, as the auction is a new process carried out in Kosovo for the first time, in the auction process the state does not pay for the construction of the solar park. It is built by the investor and, for this, the investor has guaranteed 7.5 million euro with a guarantee submitted to the Ministry of Economy that can be withdrawn unconditionally if the consortium, the operator, the winner fails

in construction. The state, on the other hand, through KOSTT, has guaranteed that it will purchase the energy produced for 15 years. Thus there is a power-purchase agreement. During the auction, KOSTT had financial difficulties due to the non-payment of electricity in the north of the country. Therefore, some potential investors had requested a bank guarantee or another form of guarantee to ensure that KOSTT would be able to pay for the energy it takes for our consumers when the solar park enters into operation.

No institution has issued such a guarantee. It is envisaged to be issued by KOSTT at the start of energy generation by the solar park. The guarantee would be activated only if there were considerable delays in the execution of payments by KOSTT, in which case the investor would collect the debt, namely not the entire value of the guarantee, but the amount that KOSTT would still owe, in case this occurs. If providing the guarantee were to entail any cost, since it is not known whether there will be any or not, and if this cost were to be reflected in the tariff, the impact would be negligible, no more than 0.002 %. For a monthly bill, what does this mean? It means that if there were any cost in the tariffs after two years, the impact would be such that if today you pay a monthly bill of 5.000€, that bill would increase by one cent, i.e. 5.000 euro and 1 cent. All the project details, including those regarding the guarantees, were set during the competitive phase when all potential investors were informed. Therefore, any insinuation of unfair competition or of favoritism cannot possibly be true. As a result of transparency and strong competition, energy has been secured at the very favorable price of 48.88 euro per MW/h. By comparison, today we pay 161 to 167 EUR per megawatt-hour for the solar capacities that were built as a result of the past feed-in-tariff schemes prior to our governance.

This auction, realized with the unwavering support of the United States Government through USAID, has created the image of Kosovo as a leading and attractive destination for investment in renewable energy. Therefore, any disinformation not only undermines this project’s image, but also the image of Kosovo, which we have worked hard to improve as a destination for foreign investment. We therefore urge all parties, before making statements and before casting baseless accusations or publishing unfounded news, to inform themselves accurately, as this is in the public interest and in the interest of the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo.

Finally, a term that has been used for several months now, “the energy mafia”. I have not spoken earlier about this because it is so irrelevant and so unfounded that it did not seem worthy of mention. Unfortunately, some are not stopping from repeating it. Therefore, I just wish to state it simply and clearly: the Balkan Energy Mafia may exist and have its headquarters in Belgrade, but no institution of the Republic of Kosovo has any report or contact or connection with them, either social, or business, or ever at all. It is absurd that I have to say this, given that those who accuse and speak have not one fact, not a single shred of evidence, for what they say.

It is now clear to me that in politics, and not only in politics, there are individuals who are willing, at any cost and without a shred of shame or professionalism, to spread disinformation for purposes that only they may know. I now understand that nothing correct can be expected from them.

Therefore, I plead you, the representatives of the media and the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo, not to take for granted all the statements you hear and read, but to refer to the official information from the institutions and the companies responsible regarding developments in the energy sector and beyond.