The director of the Albanian Power Corporation KESH, Ergys Verdho, said on Tuesday that there will be no restrictions due to the energy crisis, while he added that to manage the situation, the ships that produce energy that will be located in Vlora will be used.

In an interview for Report TV, Verdho also said that "although the situation is critical, we are managing the energy reserve every time the price is too high in the stock market".

Verdho also has asked for EU assistance in combating the energy crisis, joining calls from Prime Minister Edi Rama and other regional leaders over fears of high prices and plunging temperatures as winter draws nearer.

Albania relies on hydropower during the spring and summer, exporting the rest abroad. During autumn and winter, it uses some hydropower and imports fossil fuel energy from its neighbors. However, 2022 has been particularly dry, resulting in low water levels in the country’s main dams and reservoirs, leading to concerns the country could struggle to meet energy needs.

“The situation is normal for now, but if there is no rain, the situation will be problematic, and the price [of imported energy] is very high. There is a pronounced energy shortage of 4 gigawatt-hours in the region; many generators have stopped working due to repairs, so the lack of energy in the market leads to high prices,” he explained. According to Verdho, "electricity has not been purchased in the last three weeks".

"The crisis has started for one year before the war, but today it is taking its highest cup. KESH has the best historical quota managed in dry years. The Albanian government has injected capital into KESH to have enough liquidity to manage the situation by buying in the weeks when energy is cheaper and not buying in the weeks when there is rain," he said.

“To be able to enter the market, to ensure the missing amount of energy from production, today we are talking about a figure of Euro 300 million, from January to today. KESH coped best with this with its own funds until July; the state stepped in to help by injecting this capital,” Verdho said.

As for whether the country could face blackouts, Verdho said that if energy stays above 800 KW, there will be no interruption as it can be covered locally. But he warned that the low levels of rain between June 2021 and today “has never happened in the history of the power corporation.”

He also informed that the ships that produce energy are in the Mediterranean and from September 9 to 15 they will be in Vlora.

At the Open Balkan Summit in Belgrade on Friday, Serbian President Aleksander Vucic and Rama called on the EU to assist their countries in terms of energy.

Rama was less measured in his comments, criticizing the EU for its approach to helping EU membership hopefuls in times of crisis.

“The EU should not do the shame it did during the pandemic with us. They all remember very well how the Balkan countries were forced to run to China, Russia, and Turkey to start the rescue operation of nurses and doctors for vaccination,” Rama said. The leaders of Albania, Serbia, and North Macedonia agreed to share food and surplus energy going forward.