2008-07-25

SARAJEVO - “The only light Amela, Sanel and Habibia Đemail used to do their homework that month came through a window from a street lamp. The dark month was the third time electricity has been cut off to their home in the last year. Bika Đemail said that her family of six earns 85 KM a month, while the electric bill can be as high as 50 KM.”

How comes, that people have to sit in the dark in countries, that produce more power, than they consume? This and other questions were asked by a team of journalists in the Balkans. Together they looked into the structures behind the privatised energy producers in their countries.

“Energy trading in southeast Europe is frequently a murky business conducted on the edge of the law, where ownership of trading companies is hidden behind paper companies set up in exotic Mediterranean and Caribbean islands,” was one of the conclusions of the team, which was co-sponsored by several funders.

Read all the articles at the website of the reportingproject.

(Published in 2006)