The Regulatory Energy Commission (RKE) said that it will determine the price of heating in Skopje for the coming winter season only after it is clear whether the TE-TO plant and its delivery system is operational.

The combined electricity-heating plant is supplied by Russian natural gas, whose supply is already unreliable, and a recent bridge fire damaged a key supply pipe.

Marko Bislimoski from RKE said that the supply of heated water from TE-TO is three times cheaper than that of the other smaller and older plants, and if it remains uncertain, the city can go through a “price disaster”.

The state owned ELEM/ESM company was tasked with managing the heating system in Skopje, and their teams are waiting for approval from the city to begin work on the damaged pipes on the Belasica bridge which was closed to traffic until last week. The heating system was subsidized from the national budget last year, given the huge increase in gas prices due to the war in Ukraine.