Elbasan Distribution Company

cancelled

In 1996 the Albanian government started the divestiture process for three local energy distribution companies: the Shkodra Distribution Company, the Elbasan Distribution Company and the Vlore Distribution Company. In each company the government decided to divest 30% of shares through a voucher program. Under the program the government kept a 70% stake and complete control of the distribution firms. The Elbasan Distribution Company has a concession area of 1,000 square kilometers in central Albania, where it served some 41,000 customers in 1996. In 1996 the Albanian government planned to sell majority stakes in the three distribution companies to strategic investors. These plans were not carried through by 1997, and that year the country’s government fell following a crisis triggered by the collapse of a number of pyramid financing schemes that had become endemic in Albania. Over the following years the local distribution companies had very poor results. Seeking a solution to this poor performance the government attempted to merge the firms back into the state owned Albanian Power Corporation (KESH). In 2003 control over all energy distribution reverted to KESH. To avoid any disputes with the voucher investors no formal merger of the companies took place: only the assets of the three distribution companies were sold back to KESH, reducing the distribution firms to mere shells.