Yemen Monitor / Newsroom:
On Sunday, the Supreme Energy Council in Yemen approved a package of decisions and projects aimed at improving electricity service, securing fuel supplies, and developing the energy system’s infrastructure in the temporary capital, Aden, and governorates under government control.
This came during a meeting held by the Council in Aden, chaired by the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Shayea Mohsen Al-Zindani, to discuss the chronic crisis facing the energy sector with the start of summer. The Prime Minister emphasized the utmost importance the government attaches to this file, directing a focus on strategic solutions in parallel with urgent measures to alleviate the suffering of citizens.
The approved decisions included adopting a sustainable mechanism to secure fuel supplies and ensure the continuity of generation by addressing the supply gap for diesel and mazut compared to actual need, utilizing the quantities available within the agreement concluded with the Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen (SDRPY). Additionally, the Council directed the securing of the crude fuel share necessary to operate the turbines of the strategic “President” power plant in Aden at full production capacity.
The Supreme Energy Council acknowledged that the generation plants in their current state do not cover the actual needs of daily consumption in light of the continuous increase in loads and rising demand. This requires intensifying urgent periodic maintenance work and expanding renewable energy projects as a strategic option to reduce pressure on the conventional system, alongside encouraging partnership with the private sector to invest in this vital sector.
On the financial and administrative level, the Council stressed addressing technical and administrative imbalances by expanding the installation of smart meters and organizing the collection process to raise revenue efficiency and reduce losses, while taking legal and administrative measures against those defaulting on payments.
The meeting obligated all governorate governors to transfer the revenues of local electricity corporations to the account of the Public Electricity Corporation at the Central Bank of Yemen, ensuring the regularity of financial resources and enhancing the corporation’s ability to fulfill its operational obligations and improve the service level, which is experiencing sharp deterioration and long outages coinciding with rising temperatures.
