Skopje, 6 April 2023 (MIA) — During the hard winter and the challenge of managing the energy crisis, the government also had to face various speculations and doomsday scenarios, which turned out to be incorrect; the citizens were reliably provided with electricity and heat, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski told a press conference Thursday held to present Power Plants of North Macedonia's annual financial report.

According to PM Kovachevski, the national electricity provider generated sufficient energy and heat for homes, institutions, and businesses so there was no need of power cuts.

Amid he energy crisis, the prime minister said, from Oct. 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, Power Plants had generated 2,696,000 MWh of electricity. In addition, the country had bought 175,750 MWh instead of the planned 392,430 MWh so it saved almost EUR 98,5 million.

"We turned the crisis into an opportunity," Kovachevski said.

Compared to February 2022, electricity generation in February 2023 rose by 80 percent, he added.

"On Feb. 12, Power Plants produced and delivered to the electric power system almost 23,000 MWh," the prime minister said, pointing out that this was the country's highest daily output in the last decade.

The higher energy production made it possible to provide cheaper electricity to food manufacturers, schools, and hospitals, he added.

Power Plants general director Vasko Kovachevski said the energy company had made a profit of EUR 41 million in 2022, with total revenues over EUR 554 million and costs of around EUR 513 million.

Production was planned to rise by 20 percent in 2022 but instead it rose by 26.7 percent, he said.

Since the start of 2023, the Power Plants head said, the national energy producer had generated 44 percent more electricity than in the first three months of 2022 and 61.8 percent more than in first three months of 2021.

"We put into operation every domestic electricity capacity and reduced our dependence on expensive electricity imports. Domestic production is the cheapest, which is why we increased it," Vasko Kovachevski said.

In 2022, Power Plants had generated 1,087,392 MWh from renewable energy sources, despite that "last year we had bad hydrology," he noted.

"Our plan for the years ahead is to dedicate ourselves to improving hydrology by saving water in our reservoirs," he said. mr/