Skopje, 24 November 2022 (MIA) – A total of 233 public elementary and secondary schools out of 474 in the country, 50 public water and waste water management enterprises out of 70, as well as 235 physical entities and companies in the food producing sector applied until yesterday, when the deadline expired, for subsidized electricity supply at a preferential price as of December 1. Under a government decision, companies producing food products, including cooking oil, bread and baked goods, flour, milk and dairy products, meat and the meat industry, will be provided with electricity through ESM Sales company costing EUR 80 per megawatt hours. The subsidized price for the elementary and secondary schools is EUR 95 per megawatt hours, the same as for the public water management enterprises working with water treatment stations. “Those who used this opportunity by applying, ESM through ESM Sales as of December 1 will start supplying the three categories of consumers covered under the government decision for subsidized electricity. The companies that didn’t sent paperwork by yesterday, will be allowed in the coming period to be awarded subsidized supply as of January 1, 2023,” Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski said at a news conference. The government, he stressed, remains committed to providing support to the citizens and the companies. Economy Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi stated that the Ministry of Economy has been communicating daily with the business sector since the beginning of the energy crisis, and on the basis of their communication a set of measures have been adopted to protect the citizens’ standard and to reduce inflation through measures for the traders and producers of basic food products. “We have secured a fixed electricity price of EUR 80 per megawatt hour for companies producing basic food products, which is twice less than the electricity price on the regulated market,” said Bekteshi. He stressed that the rise in domestic food prices is in line with the price fluctuations of basic food products on the international market. “The higher prices of grains and crude sunflower oil are mainly a reflection of their high prices on the global markets,” said Bekteshi. He said that last week he met with the largest domestic producers of basic food products and added that for some of them the import component of food has a bigger effect on the price, while for others, it is the price of electricity that affects the final price more. “For the cases where the electricity price plays a larger role, new price calculations are already being made in line with the actual state of costs, and not according to the futures or the electricity price projected for the upcoming period,” said Bekteshi, adding that these prices can be expected to drop faster. The Economy Minister said that some milk and bread producers have started selling their products at lower – corrected prices. “From December 1, we should start seeing results on the market with the corrected prices of basic food products, and I expect the price drops to continue in the next four months, while the state of crisis remains active. According to all analyses carried out by the Ministry and the other institutions, a 10 percent drop would be realistic,” said Bekteshi. He said that the State Market Inspectorate will constantly monitor wholesalers and retailers to ensure that the measure limiting trade margins is respected when the prices are being determined. Additional controls, he said, are expected to be carried out from December 1. The Director General of ESM, Vasko Kovachevski, said that ESM Sales will provide cheaper electricity to 518 new entities from December 1. “The list has been sent to EVN Distribution so that they too can carry out the necessary procedures with the aim of providing smooth delivery of electricity at EUR 80 per megawatt hour for food industry businesses and 95 euro for schools and public institutions, starting from December 1,” said Vasko Kovachevski. He said that companies which were not included in the government’s decision also applied for subsidized electricity and as a result were not taken into account. There are also companies with incomplete applications and they will be able to complete them in the upcoming period so as to join the group receiving subsidized electricity from January 1. “We do not yet have precise and defined data on the total amount of electricity that ESM Sales has to deliver to the three categories of consumers. The calculations are currently being made and will be prepared in cooperation with EVN Distribution,” said Vasko Kovachevski. Kovachevski said that it will be necessary to partially purchase electricity for the new consumers, which will be subsidized by the government with funds from the budget allocated for the energy crisis in 2022 and 2023. ba/ad/