New fees to promote saving:

News in Brief

Planned new fees on power and water are primarily aimed at promoting consumption rather than reaping money, a ranking official affirmed.

No matter how high the fees may be, they will not match the actual production cost, affirmed (eng) Electricity Undersecretary Mohammad Bou-Shehri, in an interview with KUNA.

Cutting consumption by 10 percent per day saves some $1.8 million daily, equivalent to $640 million per year. “This figure is not small particularly when considering projected consumption hike in the coming years,” he said.

Simultaneously with the imposition of the new fees, the power department, in cooperation with the Ministry of Information, is launching an awareness campaign titled “consume with responsibility.”

The relevant regulations exempt private residences, which account to 40 percent of the consumption, in addition to excluding the citizen who lives in a rented apartment. The new fees’ laws are applicable on the commercial sector as of February 22, 2018.

The National Assembly (Parliament) approved, on April 26 2016, the relevant bill setting the rates for power and water consumption.

The ministry has set the fees at five fils per Kilowatthour (kWh)) for the investment and commercial sectors, 25 fils (kWh) for the government sector, three fils (kWh) for the industrial and agricultural sectors, five fils for non-producing sectors, in addition to 12 fils for the other fields.

As to the consumption of sweet water in the investment and commercial sectors the rates will be two KD for 1,000 imperial gallons, KD four (1,000 imperial gallons) for the government sector, KD 2.250 (1,000 imperial gallons) for industrial and agricultural facilities, KD two for chalets and stables. ($=KD 0.303).