Skopje, 17 October 2022 (MIA) – The Ministry of Economy in contact with companies which are buying electricity from the free market, has drafted a proposal with which a part of them will return to the regulated market and receive electricity directly from ESM Sales at a price lower than the market price, said Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski on Monday. “We have been reviewing this proposal with the economic chambers, companies from the food industry and the industries with products widely consumed by the citizens in order to reduce price pressure. This has already been discussed with the Energy and Water Services Regulatory Commission (ERC) and once the ERC finalizes its calculations regarding the capabilities of the regulated market, a solution will be presented,” said Kovachevski in answer to a journalist’s question. He underscored that discussions will continue this week in order to find the best possible solution for the industry, especially the industry which produces basic food products. “If ESM Sales provides electricity at or below market price, the companies will have a stable supply of electricity and will be able to plan the price of electricity,” said Kovachevski, adding that one of the issues on the global electricity markets is that no one can currently predict what the price of electricity will be in the upcoming period. The PM said there are large fluctuations and increases in the duration of a single month, but also during a single day. “As a result of this, besides the more acceptable and optimal electricity price, we also want to provide a more stable price so that companies can better plan their production,” said Kovachevski. He explained that as part of the energy group in Prague, within the European Political Community, the possibilities of capping electricity prices were discussed together with the President of the European Commission, as well as lowering the use of Russian gas and increasing the use of Norwegian gas and changing the supply routes from the east to the west and from the south to the north. “This is currently showing results and the market price of electricity has considerably dropped compared to the past period. In the past the price of electricity at the HUPX market, which is the one relevant for us, reached up to 1000 euro per megawatt hour, while now it is below 200 euro. That is a result of the joint efforts of the regional governments and all the EU and European governments,” said Kovachevski. ad/sk/