Saleh Al-Abbar, Director of the North Benghazi Power Plant, stated in a television interview to Libyan media that Libyan citizens consume more electricity than their counterparts in neighbouring countries. He did not provide any statistical evidence for this widely held perception.
Al-Abbar attributed this to the low cost of electricity in Libya.
Al-Abbar was speaking on the background of a Libyan summer of increasing power cuts, blackouts and demonstrations because of this summer’s acute power cuts.
The Director of the power plant said the electricity system also requires constant maintenance and upgrading.
Concluding, what in his view are the causes of the power cuts, he said the power deficit is caused by excessive consumption, alongside breakdowns that occur during the peak of summer.
It will be recalled that the General Electricity Company of Libya has increased the tariffs for commercial consumers and introduced prepaid electricity metres in an attempt to rationalise electricity use.
However, the state subsidies mean that an average house in Libya pays an electricity bill of about LD 100 (£ 10) per month. This does not incentivise the rationalisation of the consumption of electricity - or the transition to adopting solar energy.