In a move that deepens Lebanon’s already dire electricity crisis, the Ministry of Energy and Water has begun cutting power to roughly 100 public institutions that have unpaid utility bills. The action, which started on Monday, follows Energy Minister Joe Saddi’s escalating dispute with the government over the state’s failure to increase supply, reduce fuel costs, and settle outstanding debts with the national power company.
Lebanon’s electricity supply has been in decline for years, a trend that accelerated after the 2019 economic collapse. In Beirut, for instance, the state’s power was once available for about 21 hours a day, but has since fallen to just two to four hours, with some days experiencing complete outages. Analysts attribute the problem to deep structural issues, including widespread corruption that has siphoned billions from the sector.
“The key problem in the power sector is, as everyone knows, that we have a lot of corruption,” said Lebanese energy expert Jessica Obeid. “This sector has corruption across the entire supply chain, and it’s in the billions of dollars, so it is not something that is going to disappear overnight.”
With state electricity unreliable, many citizens have turned to private generators—often owned by political parties or influential individuals—to meet their energy needs. The cost of running these generators has surged, driven by high diesel prices linked to regional tensions and the United States-Israel war on Iran.
Ongoing inflation, projected by the World Bank to reach 17.5 percent this year, has further strained the economy. “We rely on very expensive diesel, and state-owned power plants are very old. All of that means that we cannot be looking for band-aid solutions,” Obeid added. “What the sector is mostly lacking is a vision of what kind of power system we want in this country.”
The power dispute has sparked speculation about a potential cabinet reshuffle and the resignation of Minister Saddi, a member of the right-wing Lebanese Forces party. Saddi has accused the government of ignoring his ministry’s priorities, a claim he has made less forcefully since the escalation of Israel’s war on Lebanon in early March.
Source: Al Jazeera
Read the original article
Editorial note: This is an original news report prepared from the attributed source material with AI assistance. It is not a reproduction or translation of the original article.
