Report: Diesel Shortage, 'Pretext' to Increase Tariffs

A number of private power generator owners around Lebanon decided to ration power supply to their customers allegedly over diesel shortage, in a bid to pressure an increase in tariff, media reports said on Wednesday.

The Lebanese will therefore have to endure a double rationing program during the summer season, one from the Electricite du Liban and another from power generators, said al-Akhbar daily.

The newspaper said the problem reveals “responsibility of oil cartels fabricating the crisis in collusion with the Ministry of Energy and Water under the pretext of preventing its smuggling into Syria.”

“The cartel duo - the ministry in cooperation with the owners of generators- seeks to impose an additional tax on diesel fuel for a value of five thousand Lebanese pounds and raise the tariff on subscribers by hiding behind the depletion of stocks and the rise in the price of the dollar,” added al-Akhbar.

According to a gas station owner, “the biggest beneficiary is the oil cartel and owners of fuel stations, who seek to monopolize the diesel and store the quantities available.”

The statement of generator owners in Tyre and in Tripoli on Tuesday “exposed the scheme,” said the daily.

They complained that fuel station owners refused to sell them at less than LL18,000, accusing them of “monopolization.”

The government set the price of diesel oil at 10,500.

The Ministry of Energy and Water issues tariff guidelines at the end of every month for the pricing of generator services in Lebanon.

“Whatever the hidden and apparent causes of the diesel crisis are, Lebanese residents are always the victim," it concluded.