REK Bitola, Macedonia’s largest coal plant, closed down yesterday with all three of its generators put offline. The opposition SDSM party issued a statement condemning the recently appointed new management of the plant, prompting a scathing response from ESM/ELEM, the company that manages state owned energy plants.

Energy Minsiter Bozinovska and the Government of Mickoski and (VMRO) DPMNE are incompetent to manage the energy system of this country. Instead of increasing production from domestic sources, Mickoski and DPMNE reduced it, and the Government is now importing expensive electricity inflicting huge costs to the state and the citizens, SDSM said in a statement.

ESM quickly responded, pointing to the chronic mismanagement of REK Bitola and the energy system in general by SDSM during the past seven years. “We need to remind the public that it was SDSM officials who managed REK Bitola until a few weeks ago. It was their responsibility to ensure the professional management of the plant and to prepare it for the coming heating season. We inherited devastated coal mines, left without prepared coal deposits that can be continuously and safely exploited, poorly conducted maintenance of the generators, or generators left without maintenance. Cost of energy production in REK Bitola doubled in just two years, from 2022 to the first half of 2024, and is now up to unbelievable 133 EUR per MGWh. Millions were spent to import poor quality coal, that is not suitable for our generators, which caused tremendous damage to one of the generators, on top of the health issues. In seven years, SDSM did not build a single energy production plant. We expect accountability for their actions, said ESM in a statement.