The national project “OSHEE Charge” was presented today, marking an important step in expanding OSHEE’s public services to include electric vehicle charging. This initiative aims to establish a nationwide network of charging stations for electric vehicles, directly contributing to the development of environmentally sustainable transport and the reduction of urban pollution.
Present at the event, Prime Minister Edi Rama praised the project as a meaningful step forward in the path of innovation and transformation of the energy sector. He emphasized that such investments strengthen the government’s strategic objective of turning Albania into a net exporter of electricity, ensuring full energy sovereignty within a few years.
The Prime Minister also announced salary increases for OSHEE employees and the continuation of other modernization projects within the energy sector.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama:
Greetings to everyone. Firstly, I would like to convey my congratulations to those who have worked on this innovation and who will now give life a new approach in public service, in this case for OSHEE, which will also extend this capacity to the charging of electric vehicles.
This is very good news that comes at a positive moment for the energy sector, which has now turned into a field where innovation has taken its rightful place. I believe that by next year, we will also begin the transformative process of upgrading to smart meters, starting with the first batch of about 350,000 units. By the end of this government’s mandate, I am confident that we will complete this process, which will further reduce technical losses in the network, bringing them below the EU average and at the same time improve the accuracy and quality of billing for every consumer, correcting the few remaining flaws that still exist in the process.
At the same time, we have started work to establish in Albania a state-of-the-art data center. Although it is not directly under OSHEE but under KESH, it still represents an innovation in the same direction, towards a large public company or strategic sector where public responsibility in service is now also being translated into responsibility for designing and materializing the foundations of the future.
We are also progressing with the interconnection project, a major national undertaking that will be implemented as part of a strategic partnership with Italy and the United Arab Emirates. This will give our country a major strategic advantage in the export of renewable energy.
Here lies the key part of this entire effort, the central strategic objective of turning Albania from a country once on the brink of an energy collapse into a net exporter of electricity. Something unimaginable only a few years ago, yet now fully within our reach. It is only a matter of a few years, within this fourth government mandate, before we can declare full energy sovereignty, no longer dependent on energy imports or on the sometimes-catastrophic market fluctuations caused by crises that have nothing to do with us, as we have recently experienced in a dramatic way.
For all those who consume and pay for electricity through their honest work, the recent reduction in electricity prices was extraordinarily good news.
As the Deputy Prime Minister mentioned, there is also significant work underway in these service companies to improve human resource quality. OSHEE has successfully held several public recruitments calls for new technicians, young men and women from vocational education, and has done commendable work in strengthening its engineering capacities.
Naturally, since it operates outside the state budget, OSHEE’s human resources are not directly included in public sector salary increases. However, I want to highlight today, for all those who have asked, “What about us?” after hearing about the general salary increase in the 2026 budget, that, first, for the company’s 6,800 employees there will be a salary indexation of 6.1 percent. Secondly, all company electricians will receive a monthly pay raise of 7,500 lek. And thirdky,, electrical engineers will receive a raise of 12,500 lek per month. I believe these are significant and fully deserved increases for a large team that is consistently improving both its performance and the quality of service to citizens.
I will not go on for long. I simply want to wish that this latest OSHEE innovation, the establishment of a charging network for electric vehicles, will further encourage their purchase and increase their number. Even though compared to a few years ago the number of electric vehicles has grown considerably, it remains modest in proportion to the total number of vehicles. I am confident that OSHEE’s proactive incentive policy will make a difference by allowing anyone who installs an electric vehicle charger at home or in their apartment parking area to pay the same low price as for household electricity. This is justified by the fact that overnight charging is slow and economically manageable for OSHEE.
By entering this market as a major player, OSHEE will also bring about immediate and general regulation of a market where we have seen major misunderstandings, for example, cases where individuals set up chargers and sell electricity at far higher prices than the grid. That cannot continue. For this reason, every private operator entering the market, as is their right, will buy electricity from OSHEE at a clearly defined price, which certainly cannot be the same as household electricity rates.
I am convinced that we are on the right path. I am convinced that OSHEE and the entire energy sector will continue to give us important reasons to deliver good news to the public and to keep strengthening the foundation of our path toward Albania 2030. The mere fact that Albania 2030 will be an energy sovereign country says everything else.
Thank you very much.
