The Energy Community,a Vienna-based international energy policy organisation, said on Monday it has submitted a reasoned opinion as the next step in a dispute settlement case against FYROM for its failure to open its electricity market, requesting full market liberalisation in two months.

In the opinion, the Energy Community's secretariat reiterated its view that the amendments to the country’s energy law adopted in October deprive small businesses and all household customers of their right to purchase electricity directly from the supplier of their choice by obliging them to continue purchasing electricity from the incumbent monopoly supplier after the liberalisation deadline set in Energy Community law, the Energy community said on its website.

"The postponement of full market liberalisation until 2020 represents a severe breach of the Treaty establishing the Energy Community. Open electricity markets are of principal importance for the achievement of the objectives of the internal energy market," the Energy Community said.

The government justifies the postponement of the opening of the market by a risk of "possible drastic increase of the prices of electricity for the households, it added. "In reality, the argument related to potential "price shocks” seems to address rather the intended protection of the incumbent’s liquidity than the protection of household customers from "price shocks."

According to the secretariat, the measure is essentially protectionist in nature as it has the effect of shielding the incumbent supplier from any actual or potential competition by prolonging its legal supply monopoly for a significant period of time.

The statement quoted the director of the Energy Community secretariat as saying that FYROM’s decision to postpone full opening of the electricity market is another manifestation of the current government’s deliberate policy of systematically refusing to accept the country’s obligations under the Energy Community Treaty and, consequently, EU law.

"This trend has recently become more and more visible and manifests itself in several open breaches of Energy Community law, including among others also the non-acceptance of a binding target for renewable energy and the failure to respect Second and Third Energy Package rules in the gas sector when cooperating with Russian partners," the director of the Energy Community Secretariat said. "The current problems in the energy sector mirror other problems of the country - the growing politicization of state institutions and the dramatically deteriorated political situation. What we witness is a growing isolation of the country from the international community”.

Source: SeeNews