Thousands of families in North Macedonia have faced electricity bills up to 300% higher than usual. According to Radio Free Europe (RFE) report, complaints have been directed at EVN, the Regulatory Commission, and the Ombudsman, but bill corrections remain rare. EVN claims that 85% of meters are read every month, except in areas with difficult access.
Pavle, 33, lives in a rented apartment in the Kisela Voda neighborhood of Skopje. His monthly expenses for rent are 12,000 denars, while bills for electricity, water, and communal services used to go up to 5,000 denars. But that changed last month.
“Until January, I was paying about 3,000 denars for electricity, but the February bill reached 12,300 denars — the same as my monthly rent. It’s impossible for my salary to cover all the expenses this month. This is absurd,” he told RFE.
Pavle is just one of the thousands of citizens who are outraged by the extraordinarily high bills in recent months.
RFE journalists observed long lines of citizens, most of them elderly, in front of the EVN payment center at the City Shopping Center (GTC), holding their bills and waiting to fill out forms for corrections. One of the bills they saw reached 50,000 denars.
“We couldn’t have used that much energy to get a bill almost twice as high. This happens every year in January. I’ll take the case to court. This is pure theft by a monopoly, and the state isn’t protecting me,” a Skopje resident told RFE.
EVN Home says that during the December–January period, a total of 15,000 requests for meter reading corrections were submitted, but only 2,200 (15%) were accepted, and bills for these cases were adjusted.
While the rules state that meter readings should be done every three months, EVN claims it tries to conduct monthly readings. However, Pavle’s bill showed that his meter hadn’t been read since October last year, and the bills were calculated based on average consumption. After his complaint, EVN sent a team to read the meter, but the correction made was minimal — only 700 denars less.
According to EVN, only 3% of meters remain unread every year, mostly in inaccessible properties. Bills for unread meters are calculated based on estimated consumption, taking into account the past 12 months’ consumption history.
The Ombudsman’s office has also registered a high number of complaints about inflated bills from EVN. According to them, in 2024, out of 153 complaints related to consumer rights protection, most were about electricity supply services.
“In cases where it is determined that the bill is unrealistic, EVN makes corrections after our intervention,” the Ombudsman’s office told RFE.
Although the Bureau of Metrology exists — a state body that should verify the accuracy of electricity meters — this institution has not performed this function for over seven years. The Bureau’s director, Sedat Rushani, told RFE that they plan to make the laboratory operational during March, but verification will not be free. If the meter is found to be functioning properly, citizens will pay for the procedure. Otherwise, EVN will cover the cost.
Of approximately 800,000 meters in North Macedonia, only 150,000 are read remotely. EVN says it is working to increase this number every year.
High electricity bills have also become a topic of political debate. The opposition accuses the government of removing subsidies, which has led to price increases, while the government responds by saying that electricity prices are now stabilized.
