Futile pledges render electricity a Fata Morgana in Iraq
The domestic power generators were, and still, the citizens' savior from the summer's heat. But, at the same time, they force the citizens to give up what is left of their monthly salary and empty their pockets in exchange for a few bearable hours.
Twenty-five thousand dinars per ampere to subscribe to domestic generators. Subscribers for 5 amperes – a logical amount of electricity - have to pay 125,000 dinars a month, an amount that is probably equivalent to a quarter of a regular employee's salary and half the salary of many people. Meanwhile, the pledges of electricity officials during the summer remain a dead letter.
"The continuous power outage has become a nightmare for my family and me," said Abbas Zahid, a taxi driver,"the money I get working on jammed streets ends up in the pockets of domestic generators owners, who are also racing to raise their prices, exploiting the lack of electricity and our dire need for it."
Zahid added, electricity has become a dilemma in Iraq that cannot be solved. The promises of all the Ministers of Electricity were nothing but dead letters."
"Every year, the Ministry of Electricity claims that next summer will be the best in electricity supply. However, once summer approaches, the ministry begins justifying its inability to provide an adequate supply," Ammar Hussein told Shafaq News agency.
"The citizens are confused as they pay electricity bills twice. One to the domestic generators' owners and the other to the government levy collector," Hussein said.
Hussein added that he had previously heard from his family that "summer is the father of the poor", but now this saying has changed into "summer is the father of the rich" due to the lack of electricity that leads the poor to give all their money to obtain limited electricity to protect them from the unbearable summer heat.
Internal and external agendas
"Widespread corruption is the main reason why the electricity crisis remains unresolved," said economist Mohamed Al-Hasani, "the funds allocated to repair the electrical system during the past period could be enough to create modern integrated cities."
Al-Hasani continued, "The electricity system cannot be reconstructed through talking alone. It needs giant companies to solve Iraq's electricity distribution, transportation, and production problems. Nevertheless, there are beneficiary internal and external agendas that push against the development and reform of the electrical system."
"All the countries have now started generating electricity from clean energy except in Iraq, which is lagging thousands of years behind."
Power towers and the high temperature
The Ministry of Electricity, in turn, confirmed that the energy system will reach 22,000 megawatts by the beginning of June and that the citizen will see an improvement in the processing of power. On the other hand, specialists described the ministry's promises as wishful thinking in light of the deterioration of the electrical system's reality.
Ahmed Moussa, the ministry's spokesman, stated, "The terrorist bombings on some power towers increased the hours of power outages."
He continued, "The dramatic rise in temperatures has also contributed to increased hours of interruption as citizens increase energy consumption, as well as a limited amount of gas imported from Iran compared to last year."
Iraq is experiencing a deterioration in power supply as temperatures rise at a time when the Ministry of Electricity remains unable to meet citizens' energy needs despite many promises by its officials every summer.
