Israel's Public Utilities (Electricity) Authority has announced this morning that electricity rates will rise by 2.6% from February 1. The Public Utilities Authority said that the price increase to consumers was due to the rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the past year, the rise in interest rates, the continued development of the electricity grid, enhancing reliability of electricity supply, switching to renewable energies and reducing air pollution.
According to the official formula of the Public Utilities (Electricity) Authority, the price increase should have been 13%. In order to ease the price increase, the Authority included in its calculations the funds that should be received later this year from the sale of the Israel Electric Corp.'s Eshkol power plant.
The publication of the announcement about the electricity price hike came out at a politically inconvenient time, during the energy ministers handover ceremony, with Eli Cohen replacing Israel Katz as minister of energy and infrastructure, while Katz replaces Cohen as minister for foreign affairs. "Globes" has learned that pressure was put on the Authority to postpone the publication of the price increase until after Katz left the office, but the Authority stuck to its predetermined schedule.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 2, 2024.
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