District heating in Skopje gets more expensive from 1 August. The Energy Regulatory Commission has set new prices for every central heating customer in the capital, and the revised tariff takes effect before the heating season officially begins.

Households connected to ESM Supply take the biggest hit - 5.96 percent. For customers of ESM Energetika, the so-called steelworks heating, the increase is 5.18 percent, while for Skopje North (EnergoEkolog) customers the price rises by 3.65 percent.

In percentages it sounds modest. In denars it looks like this: for an average 60 square metre flat the monthly bill goes up by around 140 denars. For a 45 square metre flat - around 105 denars a month, roughly 1,260 denars over a year. For an 80 square metre flat - around 187 denars a month, or roughly 2,240 denars a year.

So a Skopje family in an 80 square metre flat will pay a bit over two thousand denars extra across a year. Not a catastrophe. But it does not arrive alone.

The regulator's argument

The commission insists that price levels in the country remain favourable compared with neighbouring states. Director Aco Ristov pointed out that Skopje still has the lowest heat energy price in the region, measured against Belgrade, Ljubljana, Sofia and Sarajevo. The new price, they say, is based on projected natural gas prices through the end of 2026.

„Cheapest in the Balkans” is an accurate comparison and it is good that it is accurate. But the same argument can be used to defend every future increase, because as long as the neighbours are more expensive there will always be room to climb. When bills are being compared with Ljubljana, it is only fair that wages go into the same table.

This heating season 1,521 new consumers joined the system, bringing the total number of heat energy users to 67,494. So people are still connecting - a sign that the alternatives cost more. For a 45 square metre flat, heating with electric panels or radiators runs between 36,200 and 43,500 denars per season, while an inverter heat pump comes out between 10,300 and 12,400 denars.

District heating remains the cheapest option. That is the good news. The bad news is that the increase landed in July, which means the months before the heating is first switched on will be spent doing sums about what January's bill will look like.