Energy Country Profiles

• Albania
  • Administration
  • Energy Policy
  • Energy Market Actors
  • Energy Supply
  • Energy Sources
  • Energy Demand
  • Environment
  • References

• Bosnia & Herzegovina

• Bulgaria

• Croatia

• Czech Republic

• Estonia

• Hungary

• Latvia

• Lithuania

• Macedonia

• Moldova

• Montenegro

• Poland

• Romania

• Serbia

• Slovak Republic

• Slovenia

• Turkey

• Ukraine

• About enerCEE|
• Green Electricity in CEE|
• Energy Policy and EU Enlargement|
• enerCEE Links

• Home
• |Albania
• |Energy Demand

The consumption per capita is approximately 29.7 GJ, including 1370 kWh of electricity (2009). In 2009, 7.6 of electricity consumers still did not have electricity meters (16% in 2006).

Final energy consumption fell sharply between 1990 and 1998 (-12%/year on average). It has increased again since then and in 2009 reached 96.3 PJ (2.3 Mtoe). The said fall mainly affected lignite and natural gas. Their share in final consumption fell from 26% in 1990 to 1%, and from 9% to almost 0%, respectively. The fall worked to the benefit of oil, which in 2009 accounted for 68% of the market (compared to 40% in 1990). After having reached a peak of 22% in 2002, the share of electricity in final consumption fell to 13% in 2007 and accounted for 19% in 2009.

Demand per Sector

The share of transport in final consumption increased strongly (43% in 2009 compared to 10% in 1990) at the expense of industry (12% in 2009 compared to 42% in 1990 when taking into account non-energy uses). The household sector remains a large consumer, accounting for 39% of final consumption (55% of the final electricity consumption).

[Enerdata]

The sector which has gone through constant increase of the energy resources consumption is the transport sector. In 1990, it contributed 6% of the total of energy, while in 2008 this sector made up 44.7%, the household sector amounted to 26.6%, while industrial sector 12.8%, services sector 10.9% and agriculture 4.9%.

It is important to highlight that the oil products have increased their share in the final consumption of energy from 48% in 1995 to 63.8% in 2008. This has happened due to the fact that the consumption of firewood, coal and natural gas has fallen and the development of the transport sector brought about a bigger increase of the consumption of by-products of oil (petroleum and gasoline).

With reference to the final consumption of by-products of oil according to the sections for 2008, we see that the transport section is very important, consuming about 57%, agriculture and fishing 16.3%, industry 13.2%, services 6.7%, households 7.2%. Regardless of the sector growth rates, the main weight of by-product consumption of oil is carried by the sector of transport, agriculture and that of industry.  In the balance sheet of consumption of oil by-products, petroleum turns out to be the main fuel with 55.3% of the final consumption of the oil by-products, followed by gasoline with 13.5%.

Demand per Capita

Consumption per capita was 29.7 GJ in 2007.

Energy Intensity

Total primary energy consumption per dollar of gross domestic product in 2003 was 6.7 MJ.

Primary energy intensity is an indicator to show how much energy is needed to produce one quantity of economic output.

The deviation of electricity demand per GDP of a country from that of Austria or the EU average indicates, how efficiently electricity is utilised in the respective economy in comparison to the EU or to Austria, or, conversely, which gains in efficiency are to be realised. If the electricity demands per GDP decreases - what can be expected for the future in CEE countries - more national income in the form of GDP will be produced with the same amount of electricity (the black bars in the figure will decrease in this case).

Prospects for Energy Saving

According to Albania's Energy Strategy, energy savings are expected to be around 34 PJ or 22.48% of the total energy consumption by 2015 (forecasted at 118 PJ) according to the Passive Scenario (see Energy Policy). The contribution in these savings by 2015 shall come from the transport sector with 27.28%, industry with 24.58%, agriculture with 24.67%, service with 17.86% and the residential sector with 7.4% of the total savings. In this section a description follows in regard to all implied actions in order to fully realise the implementation of the Energy Strategy, including energy efficiency increase.

Implementation of the Energy Building Code

The existing stock of buildings is not insulated, it has old windows and in most cases electricity is used for space heating. Based on the world experience and studies carried out by NAE and other institutions, the insulation of public building stock until 2015 and the substitution of the existing windows with double glasses windows is foreseen.

For the implementation of thermal insulation measures according to the Active Scenario, the following steps are necessary:

• Household awareness campaign on the positive effects of thermal insulation for energy saving; reduction of family budget for energy. This objective will be achieved through pilot projects, television programs, newspaper articles, awareness campaigns. A special fund for the energy efficiency should be established. The fund may be collected as an energy efficiency tax from all subjects that sale energy sources, different international programs for energy efficiency and environmental protection in the frame of KYOTO Protocol, as well as from the State Budget.
• Implementation and improvement of the Energy Building Code, applying simple procedures. Application forms fulfilled by the construction subjects should be prepared in order to fulfil the requirements of the Energy Building Code. These data will serve for software thermal calculations in buildings used by town-planner offices in Municipalities and Districts. This task will require employees training to analyze the thermal insulation aspects of construction projects.

Promotion of Penetration of Solar Energy Use For Preparation of Hot Water in Households and Service Sectors

Penetration norms of solar panels have been selected based on the experience of neighbour countries such as Greece and Turkey, which after 30 years of experience have managed to provide domestic hot water produced by solar panels at the national level in values of 80-85 %. Using solar panels result by saving electricity, environmental protection and by economic profitability as well as household and service sector. Investment costs will be shared between state budget (for hospitals, nurseries, schools, etc) and private subjects (households).

Promotion of Individual Central Heating, District Heating and Combined Heat and Power Plants in Service, Industry and Households Sectors

Many services, industrial and households need energy in form of heat (steam or hot water) and electricity for their technological processes. Based on the existing technologies, the most efficient one that guarantees heat and power energy needs is the cogeneration, which means combined production of thermal and electricity. The National Agency of Energy together with the Energy Efficiency Centre has carried out some different studies for the penetration of small scale combined heat and power plants (SSCHP). Investment costs will be shared between state budget and private subjects (households).

Promotion of Efficient Lighting in Households, Service and Industry Sectors

Investment costs will be shared between state budget (for public buildings) and private subjects (households).

Substitution of Coal, Fuel Wood, Residual Fuel Oil with Heavy Fuel Oil in Boilers/Furnaces

Energy saving in industry and service sectors will come from substitution of coal, fuel wood, residual fuel oil with heavy fuel oil in existing stock boilers/furnaces (the penetration rate for the year 2015 is taken 30 %).

Promotion of Public Transport and Other Measures in Transport Sector

The following measures were analyzed for the passenger transport: roads rehabilitation, construction of new roads, better management of transport sector, use of efficient vehicles with lower engine power and higher efficiency, lower growth rate for the number of cars, increase the contribution of passenger transport through buses and trains, etc.

Increase of Energy Efficiency in Agriculture Sector in General, and Irrigation in Particular

Use of efficient irrigating schemes, which means that superficial irrigation with drills or flooding will be substituted with pressured irrigation in the form of rain and droplets. Expected result is the reduction of 50 % of the energy consumption in agriculture sector. Investment for this measure will be from budget and farmers. The budget will carry out big investments related with irrigation projects, while farmers will carry out the equipment for irrigation with droplets.

[ National Agency of Energy ]

Prices

VAT is the main means of taxation on energy prices.

Oil
In November 2010, the average prices were €1.03/l for diesel and €1.10/l for gasoline (€0.96/l and €1.10/l, respectively, in May 2008).

Electricity
The Government had total control over energy prices until 1991, when a partial liberalisation policy was implemented. In 1995, the regulation of prices on the electricity market was entrusted to the Entity for the Regulation of Electricity.

In Albania, electricity prices for household are significantly lower than prices for industries and businesses. Non household prices have been cut by 21% between 2005 and 2007 to reach the average household prices (ALL7.29/kWh and ALL7/kWh, or €5.89c/kWh and €5.65c/kWh, respectively). They are now quite similar (on average ALL8.75/kWh and ALL8.1/kWh or €6.68c/kWh and €6.18c/kWh, respectively).

In 2010, the average and consumer price for electricity was increased by 13.4% (ČEZ had requested a 23% rise), from ALL 8.45/kWh (€6.26c/kWh) to ALL 9.53k/Wh (€7.1c/kWh). The price increase was 10% for households.
For 2011, ČEZ demanded an 11.2% increase (ALL 10.6/kWh, or €7.74c/kWh).

[Enderdata]