Skopje, 12 October 2021 (MIA) – Electricity price will not be changed by the end of the year and now, it’s too early to predict what might happen next year, said Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Marko Bislimoski, Regulatory Energy Commission President. Stability of the electricity price for households has been guaranteed by the end of the year through the energy companies ESM and MEPSO, meaning also through the state, said Zaev. “There’s no reason for concern,” he stressed. “In the coming period we will use all potentials we have in REK Bitola and REK Oslomej. A procedure for coal procurement from abroad has been already issued to produce electricity three to four times less than the prices on the stock market at the moment. It will provide stability for households and also for public institutions and private companies,” Zaev said Tuesday at a news conference announcing a German investment of wind park in the country. North Macedonia, he added, is taking measures acting like the countries in the region and beyond and we are ready to react if necessary. No one knows what would happen after New Year’s, he said, as a lot of things depend on natural gas prices and Gazprom, which supplies more than a third of Europe’s needs for natural gas, is due to reveal details from its strategy. “We’re part of the global market and we’ll follow closely all developments in international energy stock markets. Also, we’ll use all our capacities at disposal in order to prioritize our economy before all other economies. I wouldn’t want to rush in by saying what we’d do, but I can confirm that we’re here for the citizens and for the state,” PM Zaev stated. Asked whether the country is planning on procuring intervention natural gas reserves, Zaev explained that they are reserved quarterly, in the middle of the year and annually by gas traders, not by the stated. He urged for caution regarding the ‘psychological moment’ saying it could trigger inflation. “The state has capacities, institutional, financial and material, to intervene,” the PM said. “Inflation at the moment is 2.7%-2.8%. Electivity price contributes 5.6% in manufacturing price of products. Sometimes, any psychological moment might trigger a spiral of price hikes. We don’t want that,” Zaev said.     According to Bislimoski, gas prices, thus electricity prices, will stabilize once Russia increases natural gas supplies. He confirmed that there won’t be any changes in electricity prices by the end of the year. “ESM in cooperation with the government has been making efforts to procure coal in order to stabilize the energy price mainly for businesses. It’s too early now to say what’s going to happen after January 1, 2022,” he stated. All European countries, Bislimoski said, face difficulties with prices of electricity and natural gas, but they have no issues with power supply. “There is electricity, but prices are rising. It can be expected that some countries will produce electricity only for their needs, but there will be transactions on the electricity market nevertheless,” he stated.