Albania's power utility firm OSSH is suing the country's Energy Regulatory Agency, ERE, after a decision to raise the electricity price by 13 per cent was deemed too small to save it from bankruptcy.
“We regard this as an attack against foreign investors, which is totally unacceptable,” OSSH said in a statement after ERE’s decision. “We will take all necessary legal steps to protect the interests of our consumers and investors,” the company added.
OSSH says that only 7.1 per cent of the new price hike will go to the utility firm, while the rest will be shared by the state-owned electricity producer KESH and electricity transmitter company OST.
OSSH, which is majority owned by Czech power giant CEZ, had requested a 24 per cent increase in the price of electricity for 2010. The company was privatised in May 2009 for 102 million euro.
According to the privatisation contract, the Albanian government will have to compensate CEZ for the shortfall in revenue that would result from the smaller price hike.
However, ERE has not accepted an independent audit of the utility’s losses, which means that even the compensation from the government for the lower price hike will not be awarded.
The lawsuit filed with the Tirana distrcit court aims to force ERE to accept the findings of the independent audit for the company's losses that are a result of electrcity theft, which would pave the way for government compensation.
Source:balkaninsight.com/
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