KRG begins cancelling private generator contracts

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The government has begun canceling the contracts of private electricity generator operators across the Kurdistan Region as millions of people are now receiving 24-hour power from the national grid under the Runaki Project, according to provincial associations of generator owners.

“Since the 15th of this month they have begun contacting generator owners. They called every generator owner and told them that after this phone call their contract will be considered cancelled,” Osman Mohammed, head of the Association of Private Generator Owners in Sulaimani, told Rudaw on Saturday.

Generator owners in Erbil and Duhok provinces are receiving similar phone calls.

“The Runaki Project has contacted a number of generator owners within Erbil and informed them that starting from January 1, 2026 their contracts will be terminated and they will no longer be paid for operating generators,” a well-informed source in Erbil told Rudaw.

Hakar Haruri, spokesperson for the Association of Private Generator Owners in Duhok, also told Rudaw that the Runaki Project has “contacted several generator owners and informed them that their contracts have been cancelled.”

For years, households and businesses in the Kurdistan Region have relied on costly and polluting private diesel-powered generators when the national grid would cut out for hours every day. The goal of the Runaki Project is to provide round-the-clock uninterrupted electricity and phase out more than 7,000 private generators by the end of 2026.

Halabja District Mayor Semko Salar expressed concern over the decision to cancel contracts.

“A six-month contract was given to generator owners on September 1, 2025, supposed to last until March 1, 2026, but now they say it is cancelled as of the beginning of the month,” said Salar.

He said that no official directive has been issued by the government to remove the generators. “The Runaki Project has neither contacted us nor the Halabja electricity department, but told generator owners that they can remove the generators,” he said.

He expressed concern that essential services, especially healthcare, could be interrupted in the case of power outages.

“Last week, due to rain, their electricity was cut for one to two hours, while we have victims of chemical warfare that would lose their lives if left without electricity and oxygen for five minutes. If the generators are removed, what guarantee can the government give that another rainstorm won’t again cut the power for 24 hours?” he asked.

A government source told Rudaw that those issues have been resolved.

“Most generators will be removed, based on a clause in the contract that gives the government the right to terminate the contract at any time,” the source said, adding that a “very small number” of generators in some neighborhoods of the cities will remain, specifically in areas where the electrical load is very high and outages are likely.

The decreased reliance on diesel-fueled generators is beneficial for the environment.

“We only see the environmental aspect of the decision,” San’an Abdullah, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region’s Environment Directorate, told Rudaw. “Shutting down the generators is essential for addressing climate change, and it shows that the Kurdistan Region is taking practical steps to confront climate change.”

• SHARE ON
• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Whatsapp
• Share on Telegram
• Share on Viber
• Share on Messenger