NEPCO accumulated losses reach JD4.98 billion

AMMAN — The National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) on Thursday announced that its losses in 2020 amounted to JD61.7 million compared with JD275,000 in profits in 2019. NEPCO’s accumulated losses have reached JD4.982 billion. 

According to NEPCO’s financial report, cited by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the pandemic resulted in a fixed demand on electricity, compared with 2019. 

Meanwhile, the company had expected the electricity demand to grow by 2.5 per cent in its 2020 budget.

Other factors included reducing the wholesale rate to electric power distribution companies and the fuel price difference, which led to a 12 per cent drop in revenues from selling energy during 2020 compared with 2019.

The pandemic also led to a 9.2 per cent reduction in the cost of electricity during 2020 due to the 32 per cent-lower price of Brent crude and its reflection on the price of natural gas. 

The pandemic also contributed to the delayed entry of some renewable energy projects and the Attarat shale oil project. The delayed entry of these projects reduced the expected fixed cost of generated electricity from these projects, increased the reliance on the import of natural gas through pipelines, and reduced reliance on the most expensive liquefied gas.

The report also referred to poor collection of power bills, which exacerbated the monetary deficit. This also resulted in NEPCO resorting to lending from local banks and delaying the repayment of some overdue bills.