Ljubljana, Oct 28 (IANS): Illumination on Slovenia's highways has been reduced in a bid to save energy.

In an announcement on Thursday, the country's state-owned company DARS said that it will temporarily shut down road illumination on the parts of highways and expressways where that is legal, reports Xinhua news gency.

The move will save 2,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, which is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 600 households.

Parts of highways and expressways like tunnels, road splits, crossways and resting points will continue to be illuminated, but to a lesser degree.

DARS is in charge of building and maintaining Slovenia's highways and expressways, which have a combined length of about 600 km.

The Slovenian Parliament in September passed a law that allows the government to reduce heating in public institutions, and switch off lighting in public spaces if necessary.

The law was passed ahead of the heating season, which usually lasts from October until April.

So far, Slovenia has not had any electricity reduction due to the energy crisis, but the government has said that it may in the future limit the electricity supply to industry if necessary.

The country covers about 30 per cent of its electricity needs through imports.

From September, the government imposed a one-year price cap on electricity prices for households and small businesses, to ease the burden of rising energy prices on the population.

Next month it plans to introduce a scheme to help medium and large companies overcome the energy crisis.

Higher energy prices have this year pushed inflation in Slovenia to the highest level in over 20 years.

Inflation reached 10 per cent year-on-year in September, up from 2.7 per cent in September 2021.