Belgrade restores power to northern Kosovo

Source: B92, Beta
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, BELGRADE -- Electricity has been restored to the residents of the predominantly Serb-populated northern Kosovo today at 11:00 CET.

This came after the Kosovo electric company, KEK, cut them off at 17:00 on Monday.

In Belgrade, the Ministry of Energy has ordered Elektromreža Srbije (Electric Grid of Serbia, EMS) and Serbian power company EPS to secure electricity deliveries for the north of the province, Beta news agency reported.

The power is being delivered from central Serbia via the 110 kilowatt power line from Novi Pazar to Valač in the north, that will make sure that priority users are not left without electricity.

The north also has own power supply from the Gazivode hydro power plant, the ministry stated.

These measures, the ministry explained, will still see power cuts when consumption reaches its peak, but a humanitarian catastrophe that was looming with hospitals and schools left in the dark has been averted.

UN mission in the province, UNMIK, reportedly referred to KEK power cuts as "irresponsible behavior".

Kosovsko-Mitrovski District chief Radenko Nedeljković was quoted as saying by Beta that EPS workers will start reading the meters in households in the north today, and that residents will start with payments in a month's time.

He also noted that the issue of the power supply to the north of Kosovo has been politicized, and that KEK had given an ultimatum. Nedeljković continued to say that both that company and the temporary Kosovo Albanian authorities in Priština are trying to "integrate the north into the Kosovo institutions".

Earlier, Nedeljković stated that KEK employees tried to take over the main transformer station in the village of Valač but that "Serbs would not let them do that at any cost". He also points out that Serbs are considering counter-measures.

“We have water, but we'll see if we can counter KEK when it comes to water supply.”