Jordanians are fuming over a massive hike in electricity prices for January compared to the previous month — an increase of 30% to 80% for most and double for some. Hundreds of thousands of customers have been affected, and the issue has become a public relations disaster for the government that had previously promised not to introduce new taxes or raise the price for electricity and water.
On Feb. 12, Minister of Energy Hala Zawati denied that electricity tariffs were raised, saying that the only reason for the sharp increase in prices was the unprecedented electricity consumption in January due to the cold weather. “People are unaware that higher consumption means that the price of kilowatt-hour [kWh] is calculated at a higher tariff,” she said during a meeting with a parliamentary committee. She admitted that the number of complaints by the public over the January bill was “overwhelming.”