It is a well-known fact that the Lebanese always feel as guests within their own country. Well, guests would be an exaggeration; second-rate citizens could best depict the situation as hospitable nationals, who seem to smile even when it’s raining cats and dogs, grin while paying a double … electricity bill.
The dozen Palestinian settlement camps that have are sheltering more than two-hundred thousand refugees, utilizes the majority of Lebanon’s electricity production for free. Albeit a number of meters were installed mid 2003 to limit consumption, the majority of households, businesses and production facilities use within the camps remain remains unchecked.
A Ministry-of-Energy source divulged that consumption within settlement camps soars up to twenty-two billion Lebanese Pounds, knowing that it had upticks to twenty-five billions as seen in 2006. Electrical consumption between 1966 and 2003 had hit 150 billion Lebanese Pounds. Numbers point out that the totality of the usage between 1966 and 2003 adds up to 410 billion, which in turns has many connotations in terms of deficit that has been building up for decades.
The government had asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 2003 to refer to relevant authorities within the United Nations over collecting energy consumption bills from Palestinian refugees and inciting the UNRWA to pay its share of due bills as it is responsible for Palestinian-residency documents in Lebanon. However, the Ministry never received an answer, so the government took the initiative to discuss the issue in its November 6, 2003 session hence approving to disburse the total unpaid amount to the EDL. Yet, the decision remained unimplemented.
The same issue was revisited in 2010 but to no avail as the Finance Ministry refused to pay out said electricity bills insisting that the UNRWA assume such responsibility. The dossier was then adjourned indefinitely.
No official numbers have been divulged concerning the Syrian-settlement-camp energy consumption.
Article originally written in Arabic by Dany Haddad
