Member of Parliament from Bitola Silvana Angelevska (VMRO) warned that the REK Bitola energy plant continues to work at the bare minimum of its capacity, due to the lack of coal. The problem was first raised last week when it was reported that of the three units, one is completely off and another works at minimum capacity.

Given lack of official reports, Angelevska says that currently, two units are closed and the third operates at barely 125 MW.

The reason for this is the lack of coal. The reserve storage is empty and much of the equipment is damaged – it hasn’t been repaired since the current mine administration is in office. They cite poor weather conditions as the reason – surely they didn’t expect that it will be sunny and warm in winter? The result is proof of the incompetence of this Government and possibly a planned move to shut down REK Bitola, Angelevska said.

Energy demand spikes in winter, especially with the campaigns to have households switch from polluting wood and coal to heating with electricity, using inverter air conditioners. ELEM, the state run company that manages REK Bitola, was using up much of its hydro potential during the summer, when electricity prices were high, which led to a significant drop in water reserves.