The structure of electricity consumption serves to identify its main users. It is an indicator that allows us to judge the scale of economic and industrial development of a country. The more electricity the private sector uses (industry, agriculture, transport, etc) the more developed the country is. On the other hand, analyzing the structure of final use helps to determine the measures necessary for a more efficient use of energy.
 


Source: 2009 ERE Annual Report
Comments and analysis: ODA

In our country, the main users of electricity after 1992 are families. Until this year the factories that were still in operation used the majority of electricity, whereas the consumtpion by families made up 8-10 % of the total annual consumption. The situation changed after the developments of the ’90-s. Factories ssuspended their activity one after the other, and the family consumption began to grow continuously.

The increased usage of appliances, fewer power interruptions, and the non-technical losses caused the family consumption to dominate the total consumption. During 1992-1999 family consumption made up about 56% ,and during 2000-2009 48% of total consumption.

Consumption by families as % of total consumption is shown in the following graph:


Source: 2009 ERE Annual Report
Comments and analysis: ODA

Since the main portion of all billed energy blongs to families, the management of payments received and non-technical losses by OSSH becomes of prime importance for the improvement of financial indicators. A characteristic of the consumption by families is their use of electricity for heating purposes. This is easily verifiable if one studies the annual profile of electricity usage where a symetrical relationship between the temperatures and the use of electricity for heating is clearly distinguishable.



Source: 2009 ERE Annual Report
Comments and analysis: ODA

The use of electricity for heating is inefficient. For this reason the price increase is seen as an initiative to decrease the inefficient use of electricity. The problem consists on the fact that for as long as there exist non-technical losses, i.e electricity theft, and non-paid bills, increasing prices will only harm the people that actually pay for their electricity. The people that do not pay will not suffer the price increase. These people are quite indifferent towards the energy cost, and in most cases wastes electricity. This is another reason why this part of the population creates severe problems not only related to non-payment of electricity bills but also to the wasted electricity.

The graph shows a high usage of energy during July and August which has to do with the use of AC units to counter the high temperatures.

However, in 2008 and 2009 there is a positive trend of more efficient use of electricity by the consumers. Despite the increase of sources at their disposal the families are using less electricity. This means that more and more electricity is being used by businesses. Since the majority of electricity used is low tension electricity, it can be concluded that Albania is still far from being called an industrialized country, or a country that has a majority of big or medium businesses.


Source: 2009 ERE Annual Report
Comments and analysis: ODA