Government requests tendering to select universal electricity supplier and supplier of last resort

The Macedonian government has adopted a decision on launching a procedure to select the country’s universal electricity supplier and supplier of last resort, in line with the new energy law, according to a statement on the government’s website.

The prime minister’s office, the office of the deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, and the Ministry of Economy are to each name a member and a deputy member of a commission to carry out the procedure to select the universal electricity supplier, which is also to act as the supplier of last resort.

The regulatory energy commission, RKE, and the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU) are also to each name a member and a deputy member of the commission.

The government’s decision, adopted on August 14, gives the commission 14 days to prepare a public invitation of bids and tendering documentation to the government for adoption.

The government noted that it will select the universal supplier and supplier of last resort in order to ensure the right of households and other small electricity consumers to be supplied with electricity of a specified quality at reasonable, clearly comparable, transparent, and non-discriminatory prices.

According to the June 2018 WB6 Electricity Monitoring Report of the Energy Community Secretariat, the energy law has phased out regulation of generation prices and established a right of all customers to switch their supplier, but is still to be implemented in practice.

The obligation of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s incumbent generation company ELEM to provide electricity for supply to households and small customers under universal supply and supply of last resort will cease to exist as of January 1, 2019, according to the report.

An obligation of ELEM to offer a certain share of its production at market prices to the universal supplier as of 2019 is defined by the new energy law. A step-wise reduction of this share, starting from 80% in 2019, to minimum 30% in 2025 is defined, the Secretariat said in the report.

By September 2018, the government will initiate a tender procedure for the selection of universal supplier and supplier of last resort, the report reads. The regulator adopts a tariff system for the sale of electricity by the universal service supplier and the supplier of last resort.

The energy law also envisages the introduction of a market-based support scheme for renewable energy, as well as prosumers that would produce electricity for self-consumption and feed surpluses to the grid.