AMMAN — Head of the
Parliamentary Energy Committee Firas Al-Ajarmeh, announced the committee's rejection of the new draft electricity
tariff as presented by the government, saying the committee will not accept
solving energy problems at the expense of citizens.
اضافة اعلان
According to Jo24, Ajarmeh spoke during the committee
meeting, which was attended by
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Kharabsheh,
calling on the government to submit a draft law to remove the distortions in
energy agreements between the generation, distribution, and national
electricity companies, as it is unacceptable for the generation and
distribution companies to continue making profits while the national company bears
the losses.
He added that the Energy Committee will cooperate with the
Finance Committee and will request that the general budget law does not pass by
the House before the government has withdrawn its new electricity tariff, as it
would affect a big segment of society, noting that most households in
underprivileged communities share one meter, which puts them in the higher
category of electricity consumption.
Kharabsheh said the discussion around increased burdens on
citizens is inaccurate, stressing the readiness of the ministry and the Energy
and Mineral Resources Authority to submit a detailed presentation with complete
data as evidence that the majority of citizens would not be adversely affected.
While stressing the need to support
economic sectors, he denied that the government seeks to support those sectors
at citizens’ expense, noting that 20 percent of Jordan’s population are
non-nationals who should not continue to receive subsidy. He said the issue of households with shared
meters can be resolved.
According to Kharabsheh, 93 percent of meters consume less
than 600 kilowatts, and those would not be affected by the new tariff, which
will only increase for consumption of over 600 kilowatts by JD10 on average.
Kharabsheh also said that the process of requesting subsidy
will be simplified for citizens, pledging that the government will not back out
from alleviating the burden on citizens through subsidies.
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