The Kurdish ministry of electricity is planning to privatise the electricity sector. Privatisation is often introduced as a means of boosting resource mobilisation and increasing efficient production by creating competition. When you privatise the electricity sector, you inevitably give power to a company to generate electricity, transmit, distribute and retail. To understand the region’s recent history, it’s important to know the following: — As a consequence of the Gulf war in 1991, many power stations in the region were completely destroyed and transmission lines were dismantled. — Following that, Erbil, Duhok and Sulaimani provinces relied on hydropower stations to generate electricity in 1994. Some areas did not have access to electricity, and by 1998 electricity supply lasted for three to five hours according to the UNDP. — Currently the Kurdistan Region’s electricity sector has reached more than 20 hours of supply. Meanwhile, Iraq supplies up to ten hours of electricity. In countries such as Australia electricity prices are generated through a set of regulations in place. However, we do not have any form of regulation in Kurdistan Region for electricity prices. People who overuse their electricity quota are not charged because there’s no mechanism in place. Privatising a sector where there’s no mechanism to determine the price of electricity could have disastrous consequence for the working and poorer class in Kurdistan Region. Will the privatisation of the electricity sector lead to loss of jobs? Will investors hire locally? Which companies will overtake the electricity sector? How will they operate? Little is known at this stage and I think the public have a right to know about something that will have a lasting impact in the region. In theory, the Kurdistan Regional Government is trying to combine privatisation with competition, hoping that efficiency will increase and prices will drop. In reality however, there’s no evidence that there will be competition to begin with or that the prices will be lower. Take for instance the privatisation of electricity in South of Australia, accordingly between 1994 and 2004, the price of electricity increased by 40%, around 20% of the rise was blamed on its privatisation. The privatisation of the electricity sector is not a long-term strategy that will serve the interests of the public because it lacks foresight and does not have the research to back up its claims. Our policymakers should utilise consulting firms for increasing production of electricity by installing more natural power generation stations. These are long-term decisions made about the future of the region with little public awareness and consultation. Decisions of this calibre will impact the region, and future generations. It’s crucial that the public are made aware of the circumstances surrounding privatisation of electricity. Ruwayda Mustafah is a Kurdish activist and PhD student at the University of Kingston. Her research focuses on the socio-political aspects of the Kurdistan Region. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
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