June 5, 2017

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An official of the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA) blamed the ongoing electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip on Hamas, the de facto ruling party in the besieged coastal enclave, in an interview with official Palestinian Authority (PA) news agency Wafa on Monday.

Acting PENRA chairman Zafer Milhem told Wafa that the PA had a plan ready to solve the electricity crisis, but that Hamas was “obstructing” it by not transferring electricity payments to the PA.

“We have a ready plan to increase capacity of electricity coming from Israel by about 240 megawatts and to extend a pipeline to feed Gaza’s power plant with gas instead of heavy fuel, in addition to expand the grid lines with Egypt at a later stage,” Milhem said.

“We have reached an agreement with the Israelis on this and everything was ready,” he added. “But they asked for guarantees for payment. The government will not give such guarantees. The electricity distribution company in Gaza is the one supposed to give these guarantees and not the government.”

In May, Israel announced that was planning on reducing its electricity supply to Gaza at the request of the PA, which foots Gaza’s 40 million shekel ($11.19) monthly bill from Israel.

“We will not tolerate the continuation of the status quo, let alone add further burdens,” Milhem said. “We will not take any steps without clear commitment that would enable the (PA) government to do its work and to transfer the funds to the treasury.”

Milhem rejected statements by the Gaza Strip’s power authority saying that it had met all of the PA’s stipulations to end the electricity crisis, but that the governing body in the occupied West Bank had yet to respond.

The stipulations reported included that Gaza’s electricity company more rigorously collect bills in the impoverished coastal territory, as well as appoint a nonpartisan committee to monitor its performance and work in conjunction with the PA power authority to operate the electricity sector in Gaza. The Gaza power authority said it had accepted all the aforementioned conditions in exchange for the PA exempting the fuel used to run Gaza’s only power plant from taxes.

Milhem rejected the power authority’s proposal as imposing “additional financial burdens on the (PA) government without any commitment from the energy authority in Gaza to transfer the money that would cover costs.”

Milhem said that a solution to the severe electricity woes in Gaza could not be achieved without political reconciliation and the achievement of a unity government across the occupied Palestinian territory, some ten years into a bitter feud between Hamas and Fatah, the ruling party of the PA, shortly after Hamas’ 2006 victory in general elections held in the Gaza Strip.

Critics have said the PA has attempted to use the electricity crisis to exert pressure on the Hamas government to release control of the small Palestinian territory.

Even at full capacity, Egyptian and Israeli electricity grids, together with Gaza’s now-shut down sole power plant, fail to cover the Gaza Strip’s energy need.

The power plant, which provides Gaza with 30 percent of its electricity, had not run at full capacity in years, with Israel’s crippling blockade severely limiting fuel imports into the coastal enclave.

It ultimately shut down in April after running out of fuel provided by Qatar and Turkey, with Gaza’s electricity officials claiming that they have been unable to purchase electricity from the PA owing to the taxes levied on fuel entering the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the power lines from Egypt that supply electricity to the southern Gaza Strip are often out of operation due to technical issues, leaving Israeli power lines, which typically provide Gaza with about 60 percent of its electricity, as the only reliable power source feeding the impoverished territory.

The enclave’s severe electricity shortages over the years have exacerbated the already dire living conditions in the small Palestinian territory.

United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned in May that “we are walking into another crisis with our eyes wide open” should Israel effectively reduce Gaza’s power supply at the behest of the PA.

Noting that the majority of Gaza residents have been left with some four hours of electricity a day since April, Mladenov emphasized that “if implemented, this decision will further reduce electricity supply to Gaza by some 30 percent, plunging its population into a spiral of a humanitarian catastrophe.”

“The price will be paid by poor Palestinians, by women and children, by people already traumatized by conflict, who have been held hostage for a decade now. They are the ones who will not have access to electricity, to water, to health services and sanitation,” Mladenov said.

The UN warned in 2015 that the Gaza Strip would become uninhabitable for residents by 2020, pointing to the devastation of war and nearly a decade of Israel’s blockade.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=777504
—————————–
WAFGA
Energy Authority ready to solve Gaza electricity crisis, but Hamas obstructing plans

By Jaafar Sadaqa

RAMALLAH, June 5, 2017 (WAFA) – Zafer Melhem, acting chairman of Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA) said plans to solve the electricity crisis in Gaza and improve efficiency are ready but Hamas is obstructing them.

Speaking to WAFA, Melhem said the Palestinian government will not continue to pay for electricity in the Gaza Strip while Hamas collects the bills from the customers without transferring the money to the treasury and exempts its leaders and people of influence from paying for electricity.

“We have a ready plan to increase capacity of electricity coming from Israel by about 240 megawatts and to extend a pipeline to feed Gaza’s power plant with gas instead of heavy fuel, in addition to expand the grid lines with Egypt at a later stage,” Melhem said.

He said that “we have reached an agreement with the Israelis on this and everything was ready. But they asked for guarantees for payment. The government will not give such guarantees. The electricity distribution company in Gaza is the one supposed to give these guarantees and not the government.”

The electricity distribution company is owned by the government by 51 percent of the shares while the remaining 49 percent is owned by the municipalities. However, he said, Hamas has taken control of the company since its takeover of Gaza in 2007.

While the Gaza Strip needs 550 megawatt of electricity, only 143 megawatt are currently available, that is a deficit of 75 percent, most of it coming from Israel following the stoppage in the work of the power plant.

Melhem said that the solution to the electricity crisis in Gaza and improving efficiency is not possible unless the reconciliation government is fully in control of the Gaza Strip, and as long as the electricity distribution company, which collects the bills, does not transfer the revenues to the government treasury.

He noted that the unpaid bills, especially bills for government institutions and powerful figures, as well as the money collected by the company but was not transferred, are able to solve the problem.

He noted that the government pays 100% of the electricity bill in Gaza, which amounts to around $100 million bought from Israel, $10 million from Egypt, $30 million purchased from the Power Plant, in addition to $70 million from exemption of the excise tax fuel, the Blu.

Melhem said that the debt of the distribution company over the past 10 years since Hamas took over control of Gaza amounts to $1 billion, while $700 million that was collected in bills was not transferred to the treasury.

“We do not relieve the Israeli occupation from the responsibility for the consequences of Gaza siege,” he said. “But one of the main reasons for the electricity crisis is the fact that the government has not been able to collect the bills. There is a law and there is the higher council in charge of regulating the power sector and charges. But the ones who control the electricity sector in Gaza do not abide by any of them.

“In order for the electricity crisis to be solved, the government should be enabled to fulfill its duties in the Gaza Strip,” he added, noting that PENRA does not impose any precondition in this regard.

He added the government briefed international institutions and envoys on the real causes of the electricity crisis, prompting them to contact Hamas and the Hamas-run energy authority in Gaza.

He said the Hamas-run energy authority response to these contacts was misleading, claiming that it had accepted the government-set preconditions to solve the crisis, even though the government did not have any preconditions for solving the crisis other than to allow it to do its work.

He noted that the proposals submitted by the Hamas-run energy authority did not contribute to solving the crisis.

“Not only did their proposals maintain the current situation, they also placed additional burdens on the government without even committing to transfer the electricity fees they collect to the government.”

Melhem said the Hamas-run energy authority proposed expanding the electricity grid with the Israel Electrical Corporation, buying fuel for Gaza power plant without taxes and providing the distribution company with 40,000 electricity meters, which would cost about $6,000,000.

“These proposals would in fact consolidate the intra-Palestinian division, especially among electricity sector institutions, and impose additional financial burdens on the government, without any commitment from the energy authority in Gaza to transfer the money that would cover costs or to buy fuel or the meters, nor to turn over the full authority of the Gaza power PENRA,” he said.

“We will not tolerate the continuation of the status quo, let alone add further burdens. We will not take any steps without clear commitment that would enable the government to do its work and to transfer the funds to the treasury,” said Melhem.

M.N./K.T./K.F./M.K.
http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=jqm14Ma91022801661ajqm14M