Kosovska Mitrovica. Photo: EPA/Djordje Savic

Disputes between Serbia and its former province over energy and a lot of other issues have been accused of damaging many things in the Balkan region.

Now, however, the two neighbours have been accused of disturbing Europe’s digital clock system.

According to ENTSOE, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, the Continental European Power System has been experiencing “a continuous system frequency deviation from its mean value of 50 Hz” since mid-January 2018 – and this deviation originates from Serbia and Kosovo.

ENTSOE says the power deviation also is affecting digital clocks, which are now showing delays in time of up to six minutes.

“The decrease in frequency average is affecting those electric clocks that are steered by the frequency of the power system and not by a quartz crystal: they show currently a delay of close to six minutes,” the press release published on Tuesday said.

“The missing energy amounts currently to 113 GWh. The question of who will compensate for this loss has to be answered,” it added.

ENTSOE told BIRN that it will not comment further on the causes of this deviation, aside from saying that it was sourced to Serbia and Kosovo. However, it did say that the deviations in power must stop.

Kosovo and Serbia have long history of disputes over energy – and over much else.

The former province broke away from Serbia in a bloody war in the late-1990s. It declared independence in 2008, which Serbia has vowed never to recognise.

Since the war in Kosovo ended in 1999, the four northern Serb-majority municipalities in Kosovo, which remain loyal to Belgrade, have not paid the Kosovo government for the energy that they consume.

To make up for the shortfall, people from other areas of Kosovo have had to pay for the north’s use of electricity.

In December, Kosovo said electricity bills will be cut by 3.5 per cent, as it has decided to stop covering the cost of the four municipalities’ use of power as it has done for the past 19 years.

In the meantime, the government on Monday allocated a further million euros to Kosovo’s public energy company to cover the energy bills of Serb-majority municipalities in the north.

ENTSOE, which represents 43 electricity transmission system operators from 36 countries across Europe, on Tuesday said the registered average frequency deviation had never happened before, and “must cease”.

It added that the association of the European transmission system operators, TSOs, is exploring all the options to address the deviation issue with concerned TSOs.

“ENTSO-E is urging European and national governments and policy makers to take swift action,” the press release said.

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Serbia-Kosovo Relations