LEBANON: A solution for the electricity conundrum?

Many Lebanese organize their daily lives around electricity outages. In Beirut, the power goes out for three hours every day; in other cities, blackouts extend for an even longer time.

Many businesses and households have bought generators or resorted to private suppliers of power. As a result, people pay two electricity bills every month, one to the state-run power company and another to their backup providers.

The national utility company supplying electricity is crippled by many problems, including the failure to collect all bills, electricity thefts, corruption, outdated equipment and poor maintenance. The company is heavily subsidized by the government, which allocates the third largest part of its budget to electricity supply. With the rising prices of oil and Lebanon’s reliance on external energy supplies, the problem is surely worsening.

And while authorities have announced the privatization of the company, the prospects ...

... of finding an investor willing to take over seem dim. Now that Lebanon’s political crisis is seemingly over, officials are promising to solve the problems.

On Saturday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora announced that Egypt would supply Lebanon with electricity and gas as soon as possible. Lebanon is supposed to receive natural gas from Egypt through a pipeline passing through Jordan and Syria. Natural gas is a cleaner source of energy than fuel oil and produces cheaper electricity.

Siniora also told a local newspaper today that he would be visiting Baghdad soon to discuss ways of “benefiting from Iraqi oil” and boosting bilateral trade.

But observers say that a more comprehensive approach is needed to meet the growing need for electricity.

An article in the Lebanese online news publication, Now Lebanon, explored the new hopes for improving the electricity sector in Lebanon:

The electricity sector is like a puzzle with various political, social, economic and technical pieces which will need an integrated approach to solve. Gathering hope is one thing, but gathering resources and following through with action will be another.

-- Raed Rafei in Beirut