Skopje, 26 September 2022 (MIA) - The citizens of the City of Skopje will be provided with heating energy through the central system and according to the energy law, it is guaranteed that the public operations should not be interrupted, the government said Monday after the heating energy provider, the company BEG, said there is no legal foundation to manage the heating plants, it has no obligation to resume the operations in the coming heating season and it has no financial opportunity and loan capacity to procure fuel to produce heating energy. "The government has been continuously taking measures to provide heating energy for the citizens of Skopje. Currently, negotiations are finalized for regulated production of heating energy based on a previous government decision regarding the selection of executors of energy operations, distribution and heating energy supply. Once the process is completed, the public will be timely informed," the government said in a statement. Together with competent institutions, it added, we are constantly working on providing the necessary resources for heating energy production by the most affordable prices in order the households to have less costs. "More precisely, the best solution to provide the lowest gas or mazut price is being sought in order price shock to be prevented and heating energy not to go higher," said the statement. After the Energy and Water Services Regulatory Commission in June decided to terminate the issuing of licenses for heating energy supply to the company BEG, the government issues public calls to select companies for production, distribution and heating supply. This past Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi said the company BEG has to provide heating until an economic operator is picked as well as reserves of gas and other raw materials so as to provide heating energy. Commenting on Bytyqi's remarks, BEG said that according to the law, the company was legally bound to continue with the operations within 90 days designated for a new company to be selected, noting the deadline has been passed. The bids sent to the government calls to select a company to produce, distribute and provide heating energy to consumers in parts of Skopje were publicly opened on September 13. Three companies submitted bids which are being currently evaluated.