North Macedonia to subsidize over half of food industry’s power bill

The Government of North Macedonia will cover the electricity bills of food producers and bakeries with EUR 100 per MWh, which means they will pay less than EUR 80 per MWh.

Two hundred companies from the food industry and 600 bakeries will get direct state support to lower their electricity bills to under EUR 80 per MWh, Minister of Economy of North Macedonia Kreshnik Bekteshi revealed, detailing the measures announced earlier.

If the government provides EUR 100 per MWh for the group, costs shouldn’t come in higher than EUR 3.5 million, he said during a visit to the REK Oslomej coal mining and power complex. Bekteshi noted that the sector eligible for new subsidies consumes 33 GWh on average from December through April.

Water supply sector to get up to EUR 3.5 million in electricity subsidies

The minister added that the average volume for primary and secondary schools is 10.7 GWh and said the state support shouldn’t surpass EUR 2 million.

“In public water supply companies, the consumption from December 1 to the end of April is about 30 GWh of electricity, which means EUR 3 million to EUR 3.5 million is needed to cover them,” Bekteshi said and stressed that several municipalities have already submitted requests to increase the price of drinking water for households.

Power tariffs capped at EUR 95 per MWh for schools, public utilities

The government won’t allow an increase in water tariffs and it will fully cover the rise in costs for electricity in public utility companies in the sector, he asserted. Bekteshi noted that the European Commission would provide North Macedonia with EUR 80 million in energy crisis aid in January.

Schools and the water and wastewater sector will be able to purchase electricity at EUR 95 per MWh, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski said last week. He said the government’s support package for the food industry would cover areas like cooking oil, flour, dairy and meat and that the measure is aimed at stabilizing prices of final products.