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Electrical power for the citizens using social help
Electrical power, too, is a product one pays for
The civil society association “Mekteb” from Skopje and the Cair civil society organizations’ coalition, have organized a forum on “Electrical power and the social cases”. The Forum, which took place at the Children Theatre Center in the Old Bazaar, was attended by representatives from the municipalities of Cair and Aracinovo. Karl Heinz Grassman was presenting the EVN-ESM in front of the gathered representatives from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Institute for Social Work and Social Policy. Muzafer Bislimi, the Mayor of Aracinovo, pointed out that there is a large number of social cases in the municipality who cannot pay their water and electricity bills even now. He sees the solution in an agreement between the Government of the Republic of Macedonia and EVN that should help the citizens who are in no condition to pay the bills. Musa Zuha, president of the Cair Municipality Council, said that the municipality has paid all the debts towards EVN and that the municipality is applying educational approach towards those citizens in the municipality who cannot deal with that problem in order to alleviate the condition of the socially endangered families.
“The initiative dates back to 2003 when the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development started a regional study on the electrical power sector in the South East Europe”, said Slagjana Ikonomova from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. “The study confirmed that the poverty in that field is a regional problem, which includes Macedonia as well. Therefore, the country created, a project for social protection from energetic poverty in the country, with financial support from EBRD and participation from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, The Macedonian Consumers’ Organization, ESM, MEPSO, ELEM, The Energetics Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Finance, “Toplifikacija” and the National Statistics Office. The project terminated in March 2007. It contains the proposals for reducing the energetic poverty”, said Ikonomova.
The EVN representative, Karl Heinz Grassmann said that although electrical power is a product one should pay to be able to use, it is still too early to liberalize the electrical power market in Macedonia. On the other hand, he said that just as EVN feels socially responsible towards the consumers, so should the Government of the Republic of Macedonia apply economic and political measures for helping the socially endangered categories of consumers to be able to use electrical power.
T.D.
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