First lump sum bills, in the amount of 21,60 euros, arrived at the addresses of consumers in North Mitrovica already in March of the same year.
Thus, the energy agreements signed between Belgrade and Pristina in 2013 and 2015 began to be implemented.
However, not even a year and a half later, all citizens in the north of Kosovo do not pay for electricity.
According to information Plus radio contact, due to non-payment of their obligations, there are households and businesses whose electricity has been disconnected, then there are those who received a warning before disconnection due to high bills, and there are also those who do not receive electricity bills at all, but receive warnings.
On this occasion, Contact Plus radio conducted a survey with the citizens of North Mitrovica asking whether they pay for electricity and whether, in their opinion, the bills they receive are realistic.
Although the majority confirmed that they pay for electricity, all respondents, with whom our team spoke, agree on one thing - the bills are too high and do not correspond to real consumption.
However, they admit that they have not lodged any complaints, and some of them believe that they "have no one to turn to".
"I pay regularly. I don't even know how much it is per kilowatt, but it comes out a lot every month. It's a lot for our pensions, for our income," said one pensioner.
He emphasizes that he has not complained to anyone, but believes that everyone must pay if they want electricity.
Another citizen who paid for two months has a similar opinion, but adds that the bills do not reflect the amounts paid.
"Well, I'm not very satisfied either. I think the bill is too big and from month to month it has not been reduced by the amount I paid," he points out and claims that he has not filed any complaint so far.
The next interlocutor emphasizes the large differences in the amounts of the bills on a monthly level, although, as he says, the consumption is the same.
"No. The bills can't possibly be real. One is real, the other is three times more expensive, and we didn't spend anything more. I don't know what is being done, what the solution is, we haven't received an answer yet. But we hope that they will be sorted out. I don't think the bills can be real, because you don't have a household that said it actually received a consumption bill. It was always - or one small bill, and the other huge, so I don't know what is going on and what is being done." But we expect that that will also be sorted out", he specified.
One of the interlocutors states that he does not pay his electricity bills and that his total debts, for now, are 1.500 euros, but he did not address anyone about this.
"I don't think we have anyone else to turn to. There is none, there is no one. This is by force - you have to. What you were ordered to do, you were done. We are abandoned. Even for this statement, I thank you for what we can give. We are forbidden to talk. I am a social case. My son does not work in my family, my daughter does not work, my daughter goes to school and I live on a pension of 31.000 dinars," he points out.
When asked what he will do if the electricity is cut off, he answers:
"I would live 'under a candle', nothing else. What can I tell you. I will not leave, but I will live under a candle, if we have one. If we are not punished for that. If there is no confiscation or something like that. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what they think about us. Whose fate are we in, as you can see. You know - we have no protection, only from the Lord God and the occasional conversation, and this is 100 meters down the street."
