Serb villages again without electricity

B92:
Serbs in the Kosovo village of Prilužje are holding a peaceful protest today because they have yet to have their electricity switched on.

Also, after receiving electricity yesterday, the village of Šilovo once again does not have electric power.

Schools have been closed for several days in Prilužje, the municipal offices are not working, while only emergency cases are being accepted at the hospital.

After nine days without electricity, Šilovo was left in the dark again after a power failure last night because of excessive usage.

The problems in this area of Kosovo were caused by malfunctions and the distribution network of the Kosovo electric company, KEK, is not implementing collective shutdowns, according to the company.

“The policy of KEK is to intervene in the malfunctions in the electric network in the regions that pay for their electric bills at an acceptable level,” KEK stated.

“We do not intervene in regions where the payments are at an unacceptable level or where they are no payments being made,” the company adds.

The statement adds that the since 1999, the citizens of Kosovo owe about EUR 360mn in unpaid electric bills. KEK did not want to fix a malfunction in the network in the villages where consumers do not pay electricity bills.

Those consumers, however, say that they cannot pay because they have been left jobless.

Four villages in which Serbs live—Prilužje, Grace, Babin Most and Plemetina—have not had electricity since last week.

There are also several Albanian villages that have not paid electricity bills which currently do not have electricity. Residents from those villages protested as well.