Prime Minister Najib Mikati dedicated a meeting with several concerned ministers and entities to form an official committee aiming at dealing with the electricity issues in the country.
In attendance were the Finance Minister, the Energy Minister, the World Bank Regional Director Saroj Kumar Jha, and the General Manager of the Electricity of Lebanon, Kamal Hayek.
Energy Minister Walid Fayyad said in a statement that a number of files related to the electricity sector were discussed.
This included the refining of energy and gas, renewing distribution contracts, and increasing the necessary tariff to cover the cost or part of it.
PM Mikati and the ministers also touched on the issues of supporting all concerned with regard to the infringements and the prosecution of citizens who refuse to pay their bills.
“We agreed to form a guarantee committee that involves the Minister of Finance, the Bank of Lebanon, and the Lebanese Electricity Corporation to research and identify financial issues,” Fayyad added.
The financial issues would include the mechanism of payment by the Electricity Corporation for the dues of the concerned authorities, including the World Bank’s dollar loan, service operators, stations, and payment priorities.
The role of this committee will also be to discuss the issue of increasing the tariff, securing cash dollars, the calculation of it, and determining the budget of the Electricity Corporation that Lebanon needs to meet in the future.
It was also decided that there will be a need to conduct audits of Lebanon’s Electricity for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022.
“We also agreed that the World Bank should be assisted in reformulating contracts, extending them to service operators, and evaluating their performance,” Fayyad added.
The increase in tariffs will be studied in a way that saves costs to electricity consumers. Instead of using private generators, the citizen will bear the bulk of energy consumption on Lebanon’s Electricity at a lower cost.
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