Gaza’s energy authority may be forced to shut down its sole power plant following fuel shortages and EU funding cuts.
[Gaza] The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources authority announced Wednesday that it will be forced to shut down the last remaining power station in Gaza on Thursday if fuel isn’t delivered to the strip.
The announcement follows a period of several months’ electricity interruptions during daylight hours, and a severe shortage of cooking gas and other types of fuel, in a situation many residents and humanitarian workers are calling a “power crisis”.
If the stopping of the plant goes ahead the strip will remain without electricity for 48 hours, disrupting all private and public sectors in the area bar health services and water sanitation.
The plant accounts for a third of Gaza’s total electricity supply, the rest being supplied through power lines from Egypt and Israel.
In November the European Union (EU) announced that it would be cutting back payments for Gaza’s electricity fuel, which was previously provided as part of an aid package.
According to a statement issued by the Energy Authority, the Ministry of Finance in Ramallah was only able to cover two thirds of the former amount shouldered by the EU.
“The average amount of fuel which was financed by the European Union in 2009 was 9500 cubic meters a month or the equivalent of 50 million shekels a month, the maximum amount allowed by Israel,” the Energy Authority in Gaza said in the statement.
According to a separate statement by the General Petroleum Corporation, the Energy Authority will further reduce the amount of fuel supplied in the next month to 5500 cubic meters per month, which will lead to further reduction in the production capacity of the generator’s power station.
The Commission of Breaking the Blockade, a local association established to protest restrictions on the strip, has warned the government that "a real humanitarian catastrophe" may occur in the Gaza Strip due to "power shortages for long periods in all regions of the Gaza Strip", which has seriously deteriorated in recent days.
The Ministry of Finance in Ramallah is contributing to the Gazan electricity fuel bill by deducting the cost from the paychecks of employees who receive salaries in Ramallah. The ministry said the responsibility of supplying energy to Gaza should be considered a humanitarian responsibility, including the Organization of Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States, and added that the European Union should collaborate to support the full delivery of energy supplies to Gaza.
It further stated that payments received by the electricity distribution company from citizens’ electricity bills reached NIS 20 million ($5.4 million) per month. The shortfall remaining after the $16 million contribution by the Finance Ministry in Ramallah will be considered part of the private operating expenses of the company.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmuod ‘Abbas and Riyadh al-Mali the former foreign affairs minister requested that citizens of the Gaza Strip not be charged for electricity bills, according to the Energy Authority.
The Commission of Breaking the Blockade has called on the international community to pressure Israel and the EU to allow the entry of sufficient amounts to run the power station, saying the blockade has amounted to a policy of "slow death" for the population numbering 1.5 million for over three years.
Citizens and shop owners have expressed anger and frustration at the current situation stating that six hours of electrical power a day virtually paralyses normal activities but that once the whole station shuts down, life will stop in Gaza.