Beirut – “Power outages are an integral part of our daily routine,” says Lebanese citizen Ahmed Al-Khalil, expressing his displeasure at the decision to cut off power to all areas. He adds to Al Jazeera Net, “This outage is another reminder of our ongoing suffering with the energy crisis for years, and the crises in Lebanon are endless.”
The decision of the Electricité du Liban Company to cut off electricity to all Lebanese territories, including vital facilities such as the airport, ports, water pumps, and prisons, did not come as a surprise to the Lebanese street. Since the beginning of the week, expectations indicated the possibility of this scenario happening, which is what happened today.
While the concerned parties, including the government, the ministries of energy and finance, in addition to the Central Bank of Lebanon and the Electricité du Liban, failed to avoid a complete power outage, the Electricité du Liban announced in a statement that the last production units in the Zahrani plant, one of the most important power plants in the country, had stopped due to a fuel shortage.
The statement added that the outage affected key facilities in the country, including Rafic Hariri International Airport, Beirut Port, prisons, sewage facilities, and drinking water pumping. It stressed that the institution will restart production units as soon as fuel is available, and will gradually resume power supply as it was before.
severe liquidity crisis
Power outages are one of the most prominent issues facing Lebanon, as the electricity sector is one of the main sources of burden on the country’s public debt. According to the World Bank, this sector accounts for about half of the public debt, equivalent to about $40 billion. These figures reflect the scale of the crisis that directly affects the lives of citizens and the national economy.
The state-owned Electricite du Liban is facing a severe liquidity crisis amid the country’s worst economic crisis since late 2019. As a result, reliance on private generators and solar energy have become the main options for many Lebanese.
This shift reflects the profound impact of the electricity crisis on daily life, and highlights the urgent need for radical reforms in the energy sector to ensure sustainable and reliable electricity provision.
Since 2019, the electricity crisis has worsened significantly. Power outages used to last between 10 and 12 hours per day, but these outages increased significantly to around 22 hours per day in 2020. Currently, outages range between 15 and 20 hours per day.
Crisis since the nineties
Director General of the Litani River Authority, Sami Alawiya, told Al Jazeera Net that the electricity problem in Lebanon is not new. Since the 1990s, Lebanon has been in a cycle of securing fuel or oil to operate power plants.
According to Alawiya, in the first phase and until 2023, the state supported this sector from depositors’ money and the dollars available in the Central Bank of Lebanon, as it bought fuel and supplied it to power plants, which allowed citizens to obtain electricity without paying the actual price.
Alawiah explained that the next stage, known as the emergency plan, witnessed an increase in electricity tariffs for citizens, as the price of a kilowatt provided by the state became much higher than the price through private generators. In the private sectorThese funds were allocated to purchase fuel and maintain the plants to continue providing electricity on the one hand, and to increase the hours of supply on the other hand.
The same spokesman pointed out that the dollar liquidity crisis led to resorting to Iraq to secure fuel, which resulted in the accumulation of financial dues on Lebanon amounting to about 800 million dollars. He added that Iraq suspended the supply of fuel to Lebanon, with a one-time exception; due to A legal problem related to how these dues are paid, which requires legislation from the House of Representatives.
The Lebanese official confirmed that the solution proposed by the Minister of Energy Walid Fayyad includes securing fuel from the strategic stock of the Lebanese army, in an amount of 5,000 tons, and he considered it a temporary solution that does not exceed 5 days and requires a decision from the Board of Directors of the Electricité du Liban, which in turn will meet today.
Alawiya believes that the electricity sector in Lebanon needs real reforms that include implementing laws, establishing a regulatory body, bringing in the private sector and civil society, increasing transparency, and relying on alternative energy. He added that the sector has been suffering from instability for years due to political complications.
The only source of energy
The same official explained that the Litani River Water Authority currently produces 164 kilowatts of energy, out of the 196 kilowatts that can be produced under normal conditions, and it is the only source of energy in Lebanon, as it sells it to the Electricité du Liban to secure energy for most public facilities and services, including the emergency plan, providing citizens with water, and the communications network.
Alawieh pointed out that the State of Qatar had offered to help Lebanon secure energy, in addition to offers from Kuwait, Germany and several Arab and European countries. However, the process of controlling this sector by some parties in Lebanon prevented the implementation of this assistance.
On Sunday evening, Algeria announced that it would immediately supply Lebanon with oil to help it overcome the power outage crisis it has been suffering from since Saturday.
On the other hand, an informed source from inside Beirut Airport told Al Jazeera Net that the airport is equipped with backup generators that cover almost all of its electricity needs under normal circumstances, except for cooling, which is not considered a priority. The source explained that these generators are designed to provide energy at specific times and not continuously as is the case currently.
The source pointed out that the airport relied on the electricity company to provide power, and used generators when the power went out. With the power stations shutting down, the generators have been operating continuously for more than 36 continuous hours.
He added that there are promises to restore the country’s electricity within two days, and that supplying private generators with diesel is not a problem, but the concerns lie in the event of a malfunction in one or all of the generators, which could cause a crisis that requires taking emergency measures such as reducing the operation of some facilities.
