The image is striking. Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut is plunged into darkness. The reason: the whole of Lebanon is the victim of a blackout due to a new cut in the electricity network throughout the country. Several testimonies, collected this Saturday evening by Le Parisien, confirm that there is no more electricity, especially in the capital as reported by several local media, some of whom are affected by the cut.
The information was also confirmed by the public company Electricité du Liban (EDL) which put forward a reason for this giant cut – which worsens the situation while public electricity is already cut several hours a day due to a fuel shortage linked to the country’s economic collapse. The company explains that it had to cut the power due to clashes at the Aramoun plant, near Mount Lebanon. Dozens of unidentified demonstrators are said to have stormed the plant.
“On Saturday, demonstrators exasperated by the cuts rushed to an EDL distribution center in the Aramoun region, north of Beirut,” the public company said in a statement.
These “demonstrators disconnected a power transformer of 150-220 kilovolts and cut the high voltage line connecting the Zahrani power station to the Aramoun distribution center”, it is added. “, The statement said. Still according to the national electricity company, they have even committed damage and cut several important power supplies for the network. These acts of vandalism “negatively impacted the network, which caused the disconnection of all the power plants (…), leading to a general blackout for the whole of Lebanese territory” from 5 p.m. .
Secure the network to avoid new incidents
The company, already plagued by numerous difficulties for several months, stressed that its network had to be preserved to avoid even greater damage. In a context already explosive for months, the electricity company said in a statement that “in light of the current difficult economic, financial and monetary conditions, it reiterates its appeal to all the authorities and security forces of the country of the need to protect all of the company’s facilities from any further attack ”.
The leaders of “Electricity of Lebanon” especially underline the immense need to regain control over the “transfer stations” in particular the main station of Aramoun, because it is not possible to restore the electricity network in the event that the control of this station is not taken once more, because it acts of “the principal station of connection between the electrical plant of Zahrani and the rest of the electrical network”.
Last October, a blackout had already affected all of Lebanon and the capital Beirut, this time due to the shutdown of two power plants for lack of fuel. This new cut will further increase the pressure on private generators who are already struggling to compensate for the almost total absence of state power in the country in crisis. The cuts have paralyzed the lives of the population and several vital sectors for months, while the managers of private generators, who generally take over, are also rationing businesses, hospitals and homes, as fuel becomes scarce.
Now, the average monthly electricity bill for a Lebanese family using a private generator exceeds the minimum wage of 675,000 Lebanese pounds – or some 22 dollars – as the local currency has collapsed once morest the greenback on the black market. Lebanon, whose ruling class is accused of corruption and incompetence, has suffered for decades from rampant electricity under-production and poor EDL management that has cost the treasury more than $ 40 billion since the end. of the Civil War (1975-1990).
