Ammon News - AMMAN – Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Malek Al Kabariti said the increase in power tariff for households consuming between 601-1000 kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity will be between 5% and 7.5%, and will be implemented gradually.

In a statement to Jordan News Agency, Petra, on Tuesday, Al Kabariti added that a 5% increase will affect the bill received by people in the segment that consumes more than 1000 kWh power, according to the tariff which will become applicable for households at the start of 2014.

At the same time, the minister said, the increase in power tariff for industries that consume more than 10,000 kWh, including telecommunications, banks and trade sector, will range between zero to 15% and will take effect by the end of Ramadan.

The minister pointed out that the 0%-15% tariff increase has annulled all discounts given earlier to some sectors, but at the same time, the discount given to people working in the electricity sector, except the new employees, has been retained. The discounts were annulled with the aim of removing distortions which affected the tariff recently.

He reiterated that that there will be no increase in the tariff for household consumption below 600 kWh until 2017, noting that this increase will not affect the agricultural sector and industries that consume less than 10,000 kWh. (Petra)