The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kosovo (DhTIK) has expressed its support for the protest scheduled for April 5, aimed at opposing the announced increase in electricity prices.
Since the early days when the price hike was mentioned, DhTIK raised the alarm, urging institutions to act to prevent such a move, as reported by Klankosova.tv.
“Businesses and citizens should not be penalized due to the failure of institutions to bring investments in energy production or because of the failure to maintain energy facilities on time,” the Chamber of Commerce said in its statement.
DhTIK also reiterated that the anticipated price hike would have a chain-negative impact, lowering business revenues, which in turn will reduce government budget income. It will endanger jobs, and businesses, unwillingly, will be forced to raise the prices of their products, putting them in a difficult position in terms of competition from abroad.
“In the numerous meetings we have had with our member businesses, many of them have plans to invest or increase the capacity of energy production from wind and solar power, but this is being hindered by the laws and regulations of the Energy Regulatory Office (ZRRE). A major obstacle has also been the Law on Public Property, which has blocked the increase in energy production investments and the attraction of foreign investments.”
“We are also against the proposal by the Ministry of Economy to increase the number of consumption blocks for those exceeding 800 kWh. On this occasion, DhTIK calls on all businesses to join the protest,” the Chamber added.
