Experts say the energy crisis is hitting businesses

The situation with the electricity supply in the country continues to cause great concern for businesses and the economy in general, as experts estimate that unexpected outages and high energy prices are bringing huge losses, especially for the manufacturing sector, reports Ekonomia Online. It is also estimated that the risk of a new increase in the price of electricity remains high, due to large imports and increased demand.

Financial expert, Kushtrim Ajvazi, told Ekonomia Online that businesses are facing serious consequences due to the lack of energy stability and high supply costs.

"It is a worrying situation for businesses that are facing this situation because the losses are irreparable, meaning there are power outages without warning and especially in the manufacturing sector, this is a very high cost of losing raw materials that are in processes that probably should be thrown away. But in addition to that, businesses are paying very expensively for electricity, now we are also in shortage," he says.

Ajvazi emphasizes that the situation has worsened even further as businesses are simultaneously facing energy shortages and very high prices, making it difficult to continue working normally.

"I have said that would it be better to remain in a lack of energy, or with high prices? Maybe it would be better to remain in high prices. Unfortunately, both are happening to us. We are also paying prices two to three times higher and there have actually been power outages, even in businesses that were in the free market. But fortunately that situation is not there, while in other businesses the situation in the country does not seem to be good in the current situation we are facing. This depends on how long the lack of electricity lasts," he said, adding that the lack of strategic plans makes the country's energy future even more uncertain.

According to him, the risk of a new increase in the price of electricity remains high, due to large imports and increased demand, while investments in new production capacities and renewable sources are lacking.

"The situation is not good, we are hoping that it will be fixed. It is not seen that it will be fixed, because we have nothing yet. We do not have either the production plan or the annual energy balance plan for 2026, we are at the end of January. Last year, the 2025 plan was approved, in November 2025, that is, before the year has passed. Now we do not have it yet. What is being seen and what we know is that we will have another increase in the price of electricity, probably from the beginning of April, because imports are extremely high. The demand on the other hand is very high, and the only way will be to increase the price," he underlined.

On the other hand, energy professor Vezir Rexhepi explains that during the winter, the demand for electricity increases significantly, while Kosovo's electricity system faces serious problems in production, transmission, and sustainable supply.

"In fact, the demand for electricity during the winter is very high and exceeds almost double the demand during the summer period even at this time, unfortunately in our country there are problems that accompany the production and sometimes also the transmission and stable supply of electricity to consumers, and in this case we can say that in recent days there have been various problems that are also related to generation. So in fact, with the Kosovo Electricity Corporation and KESCO as a supplier of electricity in Kosovo, the contract is actually with the production of energy produced in KEK, so the Kosovo A and Kosovo B power plants have faced several problems with the failure of the blocks because they have a considerable age of their operation and are not reliable and stable in the continuous production of electricity and sometimes reductions are mandatory due to these problems that accompany the Kosovo electricity system", he said.

He adds that power cuts are inevitable in such cases and that they have a direct impact on manufacturing and service companies, causing significant economic damage.

"Such reductions greatly affect the economy and business in manufacturing and service companies, all because they have a continuity of production and if there is indeed an interruption of electricity during that period of time during their work, especially production, they bring a lot of inconvenience and actually cause considerable economic damage and we hope that in the future, in some way or another, there will be better electricity production," he said.