Algeria's Electricity Consumption Rises to 14%, Investment did not exceed 5%, Economic Expert says

An expert of economy Beda Mahdjoub, revealed in an interview with “Echorouk” the reasons of the crisis of electricity outages, warning of the Indian crisis scenario, and asserting that the electricity which is stolen by Algerians is estimated at 10% of the total production, and $ 40 billion dinars of Sonelgaz debts are bills that are not paid by the large companies.

Echorouk:Could you please tell us why there are no electricity outages

in developed countries which rely on this energy, such as Dubai where
degrees of heat reach up to 50°.

*In fact the Algerian citizens pais the price of consumption of the
large companies which is in reality the first consumer, and they pay
the same price which is paid by large companies. Does it make sense
that the electricity pricing of the citizen is the same pricing of
large companies and factories which consume huge power of electricity,
as the percentage of what the citizens consume is estimated ‭to 30%,
‭while what the companies consume is estimated 70%, however; at the
final stage the bill is fixed at the same pricing. ‬

Echorouk: Do large companies pay their electricity consumption which
is 70%‭, to Sonelgaz company?

*The figures show a shocking reality, as the company Sonelgaz still
has debts, despite the decisions of 2010, which allowed clearing the
overdraft bank. The public company Sonelgaz borrows at high levels, as
the outstanding debts reach 40 billion dinars, most of them belong to
public institutions, at a time the deficit reaches 11 billion dinars‭.
‬

Echorouk:‬ How much electricity do Algerians consume? Do you think
that raising the electricity pricing is the best solution?

*The increase in electricity pricing has not undergone any
modification since 15 years, eventhough life developed and technology
evolved as in every home there is an air conditioner, in the capital
Algiers only there is a “Metro” which uses electricity power and the
“tramway” too, however; the pricing did not change. I think it is time
to review the electricity pricing, and I do not rule out this action
in the short term, but this does not mean at all that the citizen pays
the same pricing paid by large companies, public factories and
workshops. We must fix a special pricing for the citizen and another
one for the private companies.

Echorouk: This means that you agree ‭with the idea of ‭raising the
price of electricity.

* The new pricing should be studied carefully, certainly it will not
be effective largely because it would be in the range of 4 to 5
percent, because Algeria need at least 11 thousand megawatts of
consumption in the next two or three year, of which 3000 MW in the
south.

Echorouk:Recently, the phenomenon of electricity theft emerged in
Algeria, ‭do you think that it has a big impact in the outages the
electric?

*During the last years there was a significant increase in the
phenomenon of electricity theft, and its loss for reasons other than
technical, which represent a significant burden on the institution
Sonelgaz, which is estimated at about 10%, equivalent to between 7 to
10 billion dinars loss per year, at the time the company’s turnover
reaches between 110 to 120 billion dinars, and the percentage of
electricity lost nearly 18%, of which about 10% due to the
non-technical reasons, in the sense that Algerians are stealing 10% of
electricity, and this requires consideration, especially as the level
of consumption which is slowing down.

‭Echorouk: Is it possible that a large producer of hydrocarbons, which
is able of producing electricity‬, is not able to solve the problem of
elctricity outages, while its citizens suffer darkness almost everyday
in summer times?

*In the last decade we have seen high growth rate of consumption of
two digits between 10 and 14%, while the evolution of investment was
much slower between 3 to 5%, ie, the increase in consumption was
larger than the increase of investment, as the level of investment
which was estimated between 200 and 250 billion dinars, is no longer
sufficient because of the increasing pace of consumption, but also due
to the loss of technical and non-technical loss, which exceeded 15%
and sometimes more than 18%, without forgetting the deficit, which was
estimated last year by 26 billion dinars, expecting more than 28
billion dinars for this year.