Ammon News - By Wael Jaraysheh

AMMONNEWS - The Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday gave the government ten days ultimatum to review the new electricity pricing system , threatening to vote no confidence in the Minister of Energy.


some 48 parliament members signed a memorandum to vote no confidence in the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Qutibah Abu Qurah over government's decision to raise electricity prices.

During the Tuesday's parliamentary ordinary session Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh indicated that under the new pricing system, published in the Official Gazette last week, consumers who use 600kWh or less of electricity per month — some 89 per cent of households in the Kingdom — will be charged the same 72-113 fils per kWh rates that was in effect previously.

He added that about 92,5 of citizens will not be affected by the new tariff.

The new tariff, which raises electricity bills by an average of 9 per cent and goes into effect this month, relies on a progressive pricing scale, dividing households into 12 brackets.

The Kingdom's imports of oil derivatives and electricity last year stood at JD3.723 billion compared to JD2.430 billion in 2010, according to Department of Statistics (DoS) figures.

The Kingdom's imports of oil and electric energy accounted for 28.7 percent of the total imports which amounted to JD12.990 billion.

Jordan's imports of crude oil reached JD1.764 billion in 2011 compared to JD1.357 billion in 2010.