Jordan News

Renewable energy companies in the north issued a statement after their meeting today, Saturday, at the Professional Syndicates Complex in Irbid Governorate, regarding imposing an amount of two dinars on each kilowatt of the capacity of the home renewable energy system.

The energy companies asked the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission to reconsider these fees.

The companies considered that these fees impose additional burdens on the consumer and impede the expansion of the shift to the use of renewable energy systems for the wider segment.

The spokesman for the renewable energy companies in the north, Engineer Rami Freih, told the Jordan News Agency (Petra), that imposing fees constitutes additional financial burdens on the consumer; The fact that home subscription systems with renewable energy are not included in the subsidized electricity tariff.

Freih referred to previous dialogues with the commissioners of the Energy and Minerals Authority, but they did not lead to solutions to the demands of the energy companies, which number 130 in the north out of 400 companies in the Kingdom.

And he indicated that companies are calling for a reconsideration of imposing two dinars on renewable energy systems for homes, including them in the subsidized electricity tariff, and allowing them to recycle quantities of energy in excess of the consumer’s need annually and not every 3 years as is currently the case.

Freeh explained that the volume of renewable energy produced for household subscriptions does not exceed 20% of the volume of renewable energy produced, but it serves about 80% of the total recipients of this service, and it is the middle and low-income segment that must be supported and not imposed additional burdens.

He pointed out that the energy companies proposed imposing a fee of 7 piasters, in addition to the value of 25 percent of the amount of production going to the electricity company, which he considered fair to all parties.

Freih stressed that renewable energy is not a luxury, but rather has become a necessity for most segments, and that the percentage of consumption varies according to regions and weather conditions, which calls for taking these issues into consideration by the authority.

He valued the efforts of the Energy Authority to reach understandings with the Ministry of Local Administration that led to the abolition of the requirement to obtain a work permit from the municipalities for the purpose of installing renewable energy systems.

Freeh indicated that renewable energy companies in the Kingdom provide 10,000 job opportunities for engineers, technicians, administrators and workers, and that they occupy a number of indirectly related sectors.

For its part, the media spokesperson for the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Authority, Tahrir Al-Qaq, explained that the majority of renewable energy systems in the home sector belong to small business owners, while the proportion of owners of renewable energy systems out of the total domestic sector subscribers is less than 2%.

Al-Qaq said that, under the recent directives issued by the government, the application of the subsidized electric tariff to owners of renewable energy systems in the home sector of small business owners was included, and the value of the network service allowance was set at two dinars per kilowatt of the installed system capacity, with the exception of the beneficiaries of the National Aid Fund and the Royal Honorable Applying the subsidized electric tariff segments at a price of 50 fils for the first segment, instead of applying the unsubsidized tariff at a price of 120 fils for the first segment.

It indicated that the consumption value is calculated based on the amount of energy billed only (the amount of energy exported to the network subtracted from the amount of energy borrowed from the network) and not on the basis of the amount of energy rented.

Al-Qaq pointed out that the imposition of the network service allowance came as a result of the lack of storage systems, as the use of the electrical network at the present time comes as an alternative to the existence of systems to store the amount of excess energy that the subscriber needs, which he exports to the network during the day to be used at a time when he cannot The system generates the electrical energy needed to cover the needs of the subscriber, especially at night and weather conditions that block sunlight or systems failure.

She pointed out that the owners of renewable energy systems are aware of the importance of preparing the electrical network to provide the subscriber with electricity in periods when electricity generation from the renewable energy system is not available.

With regard to submitting a valid works permit to connect renewable energy systems, Al-Qaq indicated that the authority, in response to the observations received from companies operating in the renewable energy sector, has canceled the requirement for a works permit to link renewable energy sources systems with household subscriptions.