AMMAN —
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh said on Wednesday
that Jordanians whose electricity bills amount to JD50 or less will not be
affected by the new tariff.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking at a
press conference, Kharabsheh said that the segment of population that consumes
less than 600 kilowatt/hours per month, which is over 90 percent of Jordanians,
will see no difference in their electricity bill.
Talking about
the restructuring of the electricity tariff, Kharabsheh said: "It is not
about raising the prices of electricity or removing subsidies, but about partial
restructuring to direct greater support to the productive industrial,
commercial, tourism, and agricultural sectors.”
The minister
said that the restructuring covers the household sector, reducing the initial seven
segments to three, adding that “any sums that will be received as a result of
the restructuring will be directed to support the productive sectors.”
Kharabsheh added that “every Jordanian family head who holds a national
number, in addition to temporary passport holders and people from the Gaza
Strip residing on Jordanian territory are allowed to take a subsidy on one
electric meter.”
Chief Commissioner of the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission Hussein Laboun said on Wednesday that the restructuring
of the electricity tariff targets economic sectors and households.
The new tariff
will not affect in the least the commercial, industrial, agricultural, hotel,
and health sectors, according to Laboun, who added that they might even end up having
to pay less.
He also said
that the cost reduction will be on two levels: one calculating the price of
kilowatt-hours used by these sectors, and the other, which was subject to debate,
involving the maximum load.
Laboun said
that the tariff for the
agricultural sector has been reduced from 60 fils per
kilowatt/hour to 55 fils per kilowatt/hour. At the same time, he said that the day tariff was reduced from 59 fils per kilowatt/hour
to 55 fils per kilowatt/hour while the night tariff was kept at 49 fils per kilowatt/hour,
which makes it a 9 percent tariff reduction for this sector.
In the case of
the commercial sector, the tariff was lowered by more than 6 percent, this being
one of the sectors that received a subsidy of JD17 million, due to the high
number of subscriptions, according to Laboun.
He added that electricity
tariffs in other sectors, such as the hotelier industry, also witnessed
restructuring; this sector now has a fixed tariff of 91 fils per kilowatt/hour,
while it used to pay according to different tariffs, like day tariff, which was
89 fils per kilowatt/hour and night tariff, at 75 fils per kilowatt/hour. The
sectors also used to have a maximum load of JD3,79, which now became a fixed
tariff of 82 fils per kilowatt/hour, with the maximum load being canceled.
Meanwhile,
minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship, Ahmed Al-Hanandeh said on Wednesday
that so far, 115,000 Jordanians registered on the platform where they could ask
for subsidy for their electricity fees.
In order for
citizens to request this subsidy, they have to enter their national, family
book and phone numbers, he said.
"If
the request meets the criteria set by Energy and
Minerals Regulatory Commission, it will be immediately accepted, but if
there is a discrepancy in the data or the citizen is not eligible, the request
will be rejected. Through the same link, a complaint may be submitted and the
problem is explained,” he said.
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