Think about that for a moment... There are a large number of people who just refuse to pay for electricity, and yet it is still delivered to them...
That is the real problem.
The electric situation has allowed domestic and foreign opportunists to set up extensive mining operations with free electricity, this has cost the Kosovo govt. tens of millions in bills they have to cover. My grandpa’s village is a popular spot, every house is renting out their garages at crazy high prices, I’ve seen videos of rigs worth hundreds of thousands sitting in the barn in shelves next to the cows who use the heat.
I'd like to question the "cows who use the heat".
Its the other way around. https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-01-04/in-deep-freeze-how-o...
> "I read somewhere that each cow generates 2,350 BTUs. We have 255 of them in here keeping this barn warm," Sweet said. "It's hard to believe a barn this size there's no heat in this beside the cows." Sure enough, some sources say cows give off 4,500 BTUs per hour. The barn does have insulation in the ceiling and end walls, and the side curtains have an R-value of 2. They leave the equipment they use daily in the barn so it doesn't freeze up.
Another estimate of cow to btu: https://www.farmshow.com/view_articles.php?a_id=908
> "One cow gives off 4,400 btu's per hour. Our Dairy-Aire system recovers 2,500 btu's. A 60-cow herd will easily heat and cool the average 1,500 to 2,000 sq. ft. home," Lussenden told FARM SHOW, noting that the system can also be installed in high capacity hog, poultry and other confinement buildings.
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/c...
> It wasn’t long before the inventive engineer realized that, since a single cow gives off 3,500-4,000 BTU an hour, a mere 15 milkers could provide sufficient excess warmth to heat a standard 2,000-square-foot home.
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The cows don't need mining rigs.
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/11/5/as-israel-threat...
But if it were to be implemented, it would work. It wouldn't make the electorate happy either short-term, it would be like flushing out an infection with a fever.
Plus, with the delicate nature of the political situation, I wouldn't recommend Kosovo's institutions imposing brownouts on Northern Kosovo, or at least not just on Northern Kosovo.
I think we have social programs for people who can't pay for electricity. Or at least I hope so...
Like my bill is 900kW/mo for a family of 3 with climatisation in the southern US. I think this is a reasonable amount. Then, you can still mine crypto but know you can't go balls to the wall.
This is a very loaded, technically inaccurate statement. This recent article explains the situation better: https://balkaninsight.com/2021/11/23/kosovo-to-end-free-ener...
"Serb consumers in the four northern municipalities have not paid for their electricity since 1999. According to Radio Free Europe, the total cost of the energy used in the Serb-majority municipalities is around 12 million euros per year."
Whoever really believes that people who haven't paid their bills since 1999 would magically start paying in 2022 is quite naive.
That belief is irrelevant. It's completely different to the article's statement that the population refuses to pay it, when a mechanism for them to pay it has not existed since 1999.
Even 30 years ago, while Kosovo was part of Serbia, people didn't pay for electricity. But at that time Albanians weren't paying for it.
Later tables turned and Albanians become rulers, but then Serbs refused to pay.
And why electricity was still delivered to the people in both cases - well, with everithing that was/is going on there that's the most benign issue one can think off.