The Parliamentary Energy and Mineral Resources Committee called on the government to consolidate the principle of transparency and openness with regard to the energy file, remove ambiguity, and clarify the details before public opinion and the House of Representatives.

Its chairman, Attorney Zaid Al-Atoum, stressed, while presiding over a committee meeting held today, Tuesday, to discuss the basis for delivering electricity at the expense of rural fils, the importance of strengthening partnership and cooperation between Parliamentary Energy and the Ministry of Energy regarding all files, and informing MPs of all details and information related to this matter.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala Zawati, Secretary General of the Ministry Amani Al-Azzam, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission Hussein Al-Laboun, and Ziad Al-Saeedh, Director of Fils Al-Reef.
Al-Atoum called for clarifying the actual cause of the power outage and providing the “Parliamentary Energy” with information and rationale in this regard, expressing his disapproval for not providing the committee and the experts who have been hired so far with any details about it.

Al-Otoum and the MPs: Firas Al-Sawair, Muhammad Al-Fayez, Dirar Al-Harasis, Nidal Al-Hiyari, Thiyab Al-Masa’id, Ahmed Al-Khalayleh and Abdul Salam Al-Thiabat criticized the lack of transparency and lack of clarity in information and answers to parliamentary questions related to the energy file, especially those related to energy agreements, the pricing equation for oil derivatives, and electric tariffs, the last of which Causes of power outages.

They pointed out, “We are all in the trench of the homeland, and our goal is to achieve the supreme national interest and serve the homeland and the citizen, by conducting a comprehensive review that removes all distortions related to this sector.”

They demanded that they be provided with the ministry’s plan related to power generation agreements, and a statement of Jordan’s commitments to the World Bank regarding electrical tariffs and tranches.

With regard to the basics of delivering electricity at the expense of rural fils, the members of the committee demanded that the requirement to benefit from 3 homes be reduced to one, stressing that every citizen has the right to have access to electricity.

The committee also called for expanding the base of beneficiaries of rural fils, accelerating the time period for deciding on requests for rural fils, and delivering electricity to farms close to water sources, in addition to providing them with rural fils resources, and a list of projects of public interest to which the electric current was delivered on Rural fils account.

In turn, Zawati said that the Ministry of Energy, in response to the request of the House of Representatives and the service of citizens, will be attributed to the Council of Ministers to amend the foundations for the delivery of electric current at the expense of the rural fils per house, which is outside the organization benefiting from the existing electrical network, which was established at the expense of the rural fils and the foundations apply to it .

She explained that during the current year, the ministry amended the approved bases for the rural fils, so that electric current is delivered to the population centers located outside the boundaries of the organization, consisting of a minimum of three houses instead of ten.

She indicated that this step came in response to the needs of citizens and facilitating them, keeping pace with urban expansion, and serving citizens, within the specified criteria.

Regarding the spending of the rural fils, Zawati said that electricity is delivered to residential communities consisting of a minimum of three houses outside the regulation, and electricity is delivered to the homes of chaste families located within the boundaries of the organization, according to a social case study from the Ministry of Social Development.

She added, “Also, through rural pennies, electricity is delivered to farms that contain artesian wells outside the organization from the existing electrical networks or by solar energy systems that are not connected with the grid, and electricity is delivered to agricultural projects, such as poultry, sheep and cow farms outside the organization’s borders.”

And she continued, “Through this provision, the roads leading to the cemeteries outside the organization are also illuminated, and solar cell systems connected and not connected with the network to the homes of chaste families are installed.”

She stressed that the ministry, whenever necessary, re-examines the approved bases for delivering electricity at the expense of rural fils.

Zawati explained that the operating expenses and bonuses are paid from the salary item, and not from the rural fils account, pointing out that there are government projects for the public interest, which are supported by rural fils.

She indicated that the ministry is striving to address any distortions and imbalances, saying: We respect all agreements, and we do not seek to cancel them, but we review them through negotiation to improve the terms and serve the higher national interest.

With regard to the power outage in the Kingdom, on May 21, Zawati said that the preliminary information that we currently have, we have talked about it in full transparency to public opinion, as the problem has been limited to the phenomenon of electrical power fluctuations that occurred on the Jordanian-Egyptian electrical interconnection line, which We are still studying its cause with the consultant who was appointed for this purpose, to develop the necessary technical solutions to deal with such cases.

In response to questions from the attendees, Laboun confirmed that several scenarios are currently being studied to remove distortions in the electric tariff, in order to reduce the electric tariff on the productive sectors, and direct support to those who deserve it.