Israel's Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) announced today that electricity rates will fall by 2.4% next week. The price cut for households will fall by 0.4% more than the original decision announced at the beginning of March, following an appeal by the Manufacturers Association due to the sharp fall in coal prices on world markets.
Unusually, this is the third electricity rate revision in about three months, when normally the electricity price is updated only once a year. The reduction is in addition to the 1.5% cut announced by the Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) last month, which was was due to Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich's decision to extend the excise duty exemption on coal.
However, the latest cuts have yet to offset the sharp 8.2% rate hike in electricity rates for household consumers, which came into effect at the beginning of 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Smotrich promised to cancel most of the price increases but in the meantime, most of the price increases will still remain in effect.
The Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) said in its announcement today, "The macroeconomic environment is not stable. For example, the interest rate, the price index, and the exchange rate, the rise of which and the risks arising from it partially offset the decline in international coal prices."
The Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) also noted that there has been significant progress in the process of selling the Israel Electric Corp.'s (IEC) Eshkol power production plant, while at the same time there was the crane collapse at the coal pier of IEC's Rotenberg site. The Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) specifies in its decision that it will examine the impact of these two events on the electricity sector and the meaning for electricity consumers as a whole, taking into account all the consequences.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 26, 2023.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.