ZAHLE, Lebanon: It didn’t take long for owners of electricity generator companies to vehemently reject a plan by Electricite de Zahle to provide areas under its jurisdiction with 24 hours of power. Claiming their primary source of income would be affected, the owners threatened to escalate their street protests should the EDZ implement the plan.
EDZ’s project aims to generate power in a manner that would allow it to provide residents with electricity all day and night.
“We will demand that we be compensated for the damage [this move] will inflict on us,” the owner of Joseph Generator Group in Zahle and its suburbs said.
EDZ, founded in the early 1920s, is a private institution that generates and distributes electricity in east Lebanon’s Zahle and other areas such as Saadnayel, Barr Elias, Riyaq, Ablah and Taanayel.
The institution was functioning even before Electricite du Liban was formed in1964.
Zahle is the capital of the Bekaa Valley governorate, the country’s largest district.
The owner of the generator company accused EDZ of using the government’s utility poles and electricity grids, explaining that this private use of public utilities was illegal.
He did not address the fact that generator owners make use of the same utilities to extend their power lines.
“The network is ours, including the power lines, poles, electricity distribution stations, meters and others,” said Assaad Nakad, EDZ’s chairman and CEO.
Nakad believes that the claims of the generator owners are baseless and aimed at obstructing the institution’s work.
“They know that citizens want to be done with their blackmailing and mounting bills,” he added.
Nakad said that EDZ would begin to provide electricity for 24 hours starting in February.
Nakad says the decision to provide daylong electricity came after the company realized there was no political decision to solve the issue of electricity in Lebanon.
“We are still generating power poorly through a small plant that works with water resources from the Berdawny River,” Nakad explained. In order to provide power for the whole day, EDZ is planning on reviving an old power plant, which stopped working in the mid-1970s.
“We are working on rehabilitating the plant in a way that suits international and environmental standards, so that it can provide an estimated 70 megawatts,” Nakad said.
“And through this Zahle can become a gateway for electricity decentralization.”
“Isn’t the persistence of generator use for over 30 years considered a massacring of citizen’s rights?” he asked.
Nakad explained that this project would help citizens save money. Instead of paying electricity and generator bills, now they would only have to deal with one.
Citizens told The Daily Star they are on Nakad’s side. For them 24 hours of electricity was a dream come true.
In some areas in the Bekaa Valley, owners charge up to $125 for every 5 amperes.
For Ali Ahmad, who lives in Riyaq, the prospect of having 24 hours of electricity means he would also cut back on buying water tanks.
Lack of electricity has caused a decline in water supply, as the pump stops working when there is no power.
Nakad said the move would also light up the roads at night, giving citizens a sense of safety when driving after dark.
The new plan would also offer citizens protection from the draconian and unregulated ways of the generator providers.
“If the company did something wrong to citizens, we would be breaking our promises and the binding conditions we agreed to,” Nakad said, explaining EDZ represents the government. “Should generator owners do something wrong to citizens and if they objected to it, the owners would simply cut off power lines as punishment.”
Nakad criticized generator owners, explaining that they have been using utility poles and EDZ’s lines without paying taxes while taking advantage of citizens.
“All of our 250 Lebanese workers receive social security and receive their full rights from the company, at a time when generator owners have been working without paying government taxes despite the crazy prices they impose on citizens.”
