The Public Utilities Authority (Electricity) today approved for a hearing regulations, which, for the first time, establishes a mechanism for compensating electricity consumers for protracted outages. Consumers who do not receive electricity for a continuous period of 20-24 hours in a single outage, or for a total of 48 hours during the calendar year, will be eligible for compensation from the electricity provider.
The compensation will vary between customers who receive electricity via high-tension power lines, the leading cause of outages, because of the lines vulnerability to weather, sabotage, and wear-and-tear, and consumers who receive electricity via low-tension power lines.
From January 1, 2015, the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) will pay NIS 1.80 per kilowatt/hour in compensation to a low-tension power line electricity consumer who does not receive electricity for a continuous period of 24 hours in a single outage, or for a total of 48 hours during the calendar year, or to a high-tension power line electricity consumer who does not receive electricity for a continuous period of 20 hours in a single outage, or for a total of 48 hours during the calendar year.
The compensation will amount to 0.5% of the average monthly bill for each hour of the outage. For example, a household with an average electricity bill of NIS 500 will receive NIS 60 compensation for a 24-hour outage, amounting to 12% of its average bill.
An IEC team estimates, on the basis of transformers which broke down in 2013, that compensation will amount to NIS 3.5 million a year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 22, 2014
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