Skopje, 15 November 2022 (MIA) - TEC Negotino will operate when it is profitable. At the moment, it is cheaper to import electricity than to operate TEC Negotino, the Minister of Economy, Kreshnik Bekteshi, said on Tuesday. According to Bekteshi, there are stocks of fuel oil, so citizens should not be afraid because the necessary amounts of heat and electricity will be continuously provided, and all calculations are being made that there will be no increase in the price of electricity from January 1, 2023. Most likely, as Bekteshi said, small consumers will also have smaller bills. “Now it is cheaper to import electricity than to operate TEC Negotino. At the moment when it will be the opposite, the capacity will be put into operation immediately. If we take into account the price of fuel oil at the moment, the price of electricity production per megawatt hour by TEC Negotino is somewhere between EUR 240 and 245, and if we import, last week we imported at EUR 205 per megawatt hour, I am talking about an average price, no for daily, weekly, monthly. We also have stocks of fuel oil and all preparations are already being made so that it can be put into use continuously during the heating season. Citizens should be calm, all preparations have been made, they will be continuously supplied with electricity. Calculations are being made that there will be no increase in the price of electricity for households from January 1, and there would probably be a decrease for small consumers,” Minister Bekteshi said, answering journalist's questions before the start of the SUBEX- Suppliers Balkan Expo business event. He added that no one knows if an accident could happen. “The additional transformer for the third block in Bitola has already been delivered, it should probably be in Bitola in a week, where there will be another additional opportunity to produce electricity. If you think we should produce electricity at a higher price, well, we will do that, we will not import, but we will not protect the budget in that way. We make decisions to protect the budget and for the citizens to be supplied with electricity without interruption, and this will last until the end of the heating season, both for electricity and for heat energy. And citizens will not have increased bills from January 1, and companies will likely have reduced electricity bills,” Bekteshi noted. dk/sk/