(JNi.media) In 2016, the Jerusalem District Electric Company (JDECO) signed an agreement with the Israel Electric Company (IEC) to pay off their accumulated debt of 2.2 billion shekels (approximately 600 million dollars), according to a report in Yisrael Hayom.
The IEC provides 95% of the electricity to JDECO which then supplies the electricity to eastern Jerusalem and residents of the Palestinian Authority in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jericho. 42% of Palestinian Authority residents are supplied with electricity by JDECO.
The remaining 5% of JDECO’s electricity is supplied by the Jordanian National Electric Power Company.
According to the IEC, JDECO hasn’t been paying the full monthly amount agreed upon since the agreement was signed, and since then JDECO’s debt has risen by an additional 200 million shekels, above the 2.2 billion shekels, on which they had also received a “haircut.”
JDECO says they are unable make the payments because they can’t collect the debts from their clients, and they are also losing money due to differing tariff rates from what the IEC charges them and what they charge their clients.
The IEC warned the Palestinian Authority twice that they would turn of the electricity, starting with Hebron, if the debt wasn’t paid.
In response, JDECO turned to the Israeli High Court, and Justice Yoram Danziger placed a temporary injunction on the IEC forbidding them from turning off the electricity until a hearing will be held by the court in two months time.