Lebanon cuts power to public bodies as electricity crisis deepens

Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy and Water began cutting electricity on Monday to about 100 public institutions with unpaid bills. The move escalates a dispute between Energy Minister Joe Saddi and the government; Saddi is boycotting cabinet meetings over its failure, he says, to increase power supply, reduce fuel costs and settle debts owed to the state-owned electricity company. Since the 2019 economic and banking crisis, state electricity in Beirut has fallen from about 21 hours a day to just two to four hours, with some days without power. Energy expert Jessica Obeid says deep-rooted corruption across the sector’s supply chain, involving billions of dollars, is a central cause of the failures.