61 million EUR from the central budget were diverted to the loss making ELEM/ESM state owned energy company which produces the bulk of the electricity used in Macedonia.

ELEM was caught unprepared during the winter of 2021, with collapsing domestic production due to corruption and mismanagement in its large Bitola coal plant. Since then, ELEM began to import more coal and restarted an old oil fired power plant to try to cover more of the domestic needs, but continues to require significant financial aid from the budget, as it also covers the sky-high cost of imported energy.