Bassel: Electricity Plan Divides Lebanon into Electrical Spheres of Influence and Generator Gangs

President of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gebran Bassil, refuted the electricity file, including the plans drafted by ministers from his party, and placed the sector under the current administration of the Ministry of Energy and the Lebanese Forces.

Bassil emphasized that the current situation in the sector is "unacceptable and unprecedented," and that reaching zero hours of electricity supply, alongside rising bills, should compel Lebanese citizens to understand how the sector reached this reality.

Failure of the Lebanese Forces

Bassil paused in a video to address what he called the "Lebanese Forces' electricity plan," reminding viewers that they promised citizens 24-hour daily electricity within six months of taking over the ministry—yet after one year and six months, supply dropped to zero hours.

He argued that attempts to cover up this failure involved presenting the formation of the regulatory authority as an achievement, even though its chairman and one of its members resigned months later without accomplishing anything.

He accused the authority of producing an electricity policy paper within two weeks using artificial intelligence, stating it contained only "poetry, rhetoric, and vague talk" with no project, history, numbers, schedule, power plant, network, station, or implementation program. He added: "If you don't believe me, feed the plan into AI—it will tell you it was 76 percent generated by AI."

Bassil stressed that the only clear element in the document was the legalization of generators under the guise of "small networks," which he claimed had already been formally presented to his team when they were in office.

He argued this project leads to dividing Lebanon into small electrical zones that transform into "electrical spheres of influence and generator gangs, but in a regulated form, allowing profit-sharing among the system legally."

He also saw this as revealing the truth behind preventing his team from completing their plan, aiming to keep "electrical patronage and the fuel mafia" benefiting.

Meanwhile, Bassil compared the 2010 plan with what the Ministry of Energy has offered today, stating that the 2010 plan aimed to generate revenue for the state treasury and included executable programs, set timelines, and clear production targets for gas, solar, and wind energy.

He clarified that the 2026 plan is based on "small networks to distribute profits among militias controlling state funds and people."

He turned to what he described as the "failure and corruption of the Lebanese Forces in managing the electricity file," arguing that the minister of energy "does not know how to draft an electricity plan," so he delegated powers granted by law to the regulatory authority, which then used artificial intelligence to develop its plan.

Bassil insisted the minister is unable to secure fuel for markets, allowing shortages to occur, and leaves his director of office to manage fuel deals, speaking of "scandals involving fuel tankers" where each vessel is sold at a markup between 6 and 7 million dollars.

He also accused those in charge of manipulating the source of fuel, claiming it comes from Russia while being labeled as Turkish, and obtaining government permits to import it into Lebanon without proper inspections.

He addressed the water issue, accusing the minister of energy of failing to disburse available budget funds to complete stalled dams, forcing citizens to pay hundreds of millions of dollars annually to buy water.

He questioned why the dams remain unfinished, asserting the minister "is not allowed by his party to complete them due to 'Jabran’s schadenfreude,'" noting that increasing electricity outages also worsens the water crisis.

Bassil emphasized these facts allow his team to accuse the minister and his party of "intentionally causing" citizens to bear 2.25 billion dollars annually and the treasury 360 million dollars annually due to the non-use of existing facilities and capabilities.

He added that the ministry is capable of providing electricity to citizens through the Lebanese Electricity Company but chooses not to, forcing them to rely on generators at higher cost.

He described this policy as "the fuel mafia and generator policy, and the system’s policy of sabotaging our plan to ensure 24/7 electricity."

Bassil revealed that this reality pushes his team to consider filing a complaint with the judiciary—not just for waste, but for "direct and intentional infliction of catastrophic losses on citizens and the treasury," if the minister does not immediately halt this damage.

2010 Plan

Bassil revisited the electricity plan developed in 2010, explaining that within six months of taking over the Ministry of Energy, a plan was launched in June of that year to ensure 24/24 electricity supply, with zero deficit and no state support, yet generating profits for the treasury similar to the mobile telecom sector.

He clarified that achieving this required two things: increasing tariffs simultaneously with increased production, and reducing production costs through gas use, noting that implementing both measures was later blocked within the government, with "the Lebanese Forces leading the obstruction."

He pointed out that increased production relied on building power plants—some fast, funded by the state, others slower through private partnerships. The state-funded emergency plan aimed, according to Bassil, to provide 24/24 electricity by purchasing power from tankers, stressing it was "buying electricity from tankers, not leasing tankers as they falsely claim," along with constructing new plants in Zouk and Jieh, which became operational in 2017 and provided about four hours of supply, and a large plant in Deir Ammar that could have supplied five to six additional hours, but funding was halted by the Ministry of Finance.

Bassil added that the plan also included building transmission networks, substations, and tendering electricity and gas distribution, confirming his team completed studies, maps, and tenders, secured financing, and awarded contracts to global companies at "excellent prices," following a timeline meant to achieve 24/24 electricity by 2014—yet implementation stopped due to "funding suspension driven by politics and spite."

He noted that during his team’s tenure, supply ranged between 16 hours (minimum) and 21 hours (maximum), depending on season, averaging over 18 hours daily, whereas today, according to him, it ranges between zero and four or five hours at most.

He highlighted that current officials took over the sector after tariffs were raised from 9 cents to 27 cents per kilowatt-hour—a level sufficient for collection to cover deficits and purchase fuel without state support.

He addressed the electricity subsidy file, explaining that governments approved this subsidy in the mid-1990s, and his party opposed it upon taking office and voted against it, while others insisted and voted in favor, then "falsely labeled it waste and theft, giving it fake figures of 40 and 50 billion dollars," while he confirmed actual state support between 2000 and 2021 totaled 22.7 billion dollars due to the policies adopted by these actors.

Bassil pointed out that even after stopping tankers and some plants, current production capacity, in his estimation, still allows for at least 12 hours of daily electricity, yet citizens now receive two hours, four hours, or even zero.

He considered presenting the absence of a deficit on the treasury as an "achievement" to be a "new lie," because this policy causes deficits running into billions of dollars for citizens, the economy, and the state.

He explained his equation: the highest cost citizens face today is generator electricity, around 55 cents per kilowatt-hour, while Lebanon’s electricity costs citizens 27 cents—meaning every hour the state fails to supply, citizens pay nearly double, a difference of 28 cents, which, according to his calculations, equals approximately 187 million dollars annually per hour of supply.

He added that cutting supply by eight hours below what the ministry can provide burdens citizens with an additional 1.5 billion dollars annually in generator bills. He said: "If four more hours could have been secured via electricity tankers, the cost would rise another 750 million dollars, totaling 2.25 billion dollars annually."

He continued: "When comparing the current situation to the period when average supply was 18 hours daily—representing a gap of up to 16 hours—the direct additional cost to citizens’ pockets amounts to about 3 billion dollars annually."

He viewed this increase as "the achievement the Lebanese Forces boast about," noting its effects appear monthly in household bills, rising from 50 dollars to 1,000 dollars, not counting institutions bearing thousands of extra dollars monthly.

He also discussed the cost to the state, explaining that the Lebanese Electricity Company collects a tariff of 27 cents per kilowatt-hour, while fuel costs, according to him, range between over 20 and 30 cents, meaning the company can cover its costs if collections are properly enforced.

In contrast, he said buying electricity from tankers costs at most 15 cents, and can drop to 11 or 12 cents with regular fuel prices, allowing Lebanon’s electricity to achieve a margin of at least 12 cents per kilowatt-hour.

He noted that securing four hours of electricity from tankers would have generated about 360 million dollars annually in additional collections for the company, instead of, as he put it, "buying fantastical electricity via underwater cables from Cyprus or Turkey."

He added that the current minister "wants to bring in tankers today but dares not due to 'Jabran’s schadenfreude,'" arguing that halting them deprived the state of 360 million dollars annually for every four hours of supply.

He believed the decision to conduct a criminal audit on the tanker file came after the Lebanese judiciary had already conducted investigations into the matter. He stated the goal of the audit is "to extend the lie for years and distract people instead of acting," questioning whether it wouldn’t be wiser to complete the criminal audit at the Central Bank and expose "who stole Lebanese deposits."

He concluded by urging Lebanese citizens to understand the reality through three figures: 55 cents for generator electricity, 27 cents for Lebanon’s electricity, and 15 cents for electricity from tankers, urging them to judge for themselves "where the waste and harm lie."

He said: "This is the truth—remember these numbers and remember their lies."