Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said on 10 June it is paying out $1mn in total to “more than 60,000 households…as part of the KRG’s 24-hour Runaki [Light] initiative.” The demand-management program was launched last year aiming to bring 24/7 electricity supply to consumers by streamlining heavily-subsidized consumption tranches and raising tariffs. Kurdistan suffers acute electricity shortages in winter and summer. Peak load reached 7.5GW in January, exceeding 3.7GW installed capacity (MEES, 14 February). Erbil believes reforming the tariff provides an opportunity to restrain runaway demand and says it has already shut down more than 1,200 diesel generators as part of its 7,000 target.
In May, tariffs were raised for the lowest tranches of household consumption at 400KWh to ID72 ($0.055)/KWh from ID18 ($0.014), and for up to 800KWh to ID108 ($0.083)/KWh from ID24 (0.018). The tariff increases, however, have been criticized for being excessive for higher consumption, with unit prices rising by around 60% to ID175 (0.135)/KWh for consumption up to 1,200KWh, then 50% to ID265 (0.204)/KWh for up to 1,600KWh and 30% to ID350 (0.269)/KWh for more than 1,600KWh. The KRG claims that 50% of subscribers consumed 670KWh/month over a six-month trial period, placing them within the first two tiers and that it has budgeted $200mn “to provide additional support for households, including seasonal discounts.” Higher tariffs come as Kurdish public sector workers remain unpaid since May amid rising tensions with Baghdad (MEES, 13 June). (CONTINUED - 228 WORDS)