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Israel refuses to freeze Jerusalem electricity company’s debt despite coronavirus outbreak

April 20, 2020 at 1:57 pm

The Director General of the Jerusalem District Electricity Company (JDECO), Hisham Al-Omari, said yesterday that the Israeli authorities rejected JDECO’s request to freeze debt accumulated by the company due to the spread of the coronavirus and the subscribers’ inability to pay their bills.

Earlier, the Israeli Electric Corporation (IEC) threatened to impose high levels of interest on JDECO and to take legal action against it if the outstanding debts were not paid on time.

Al-Omari condemned Israel’s rejection of the company’s request, describing its position as “unrelated to reality”.

He noted that the company has sent a strongly worded letter to the Israeli minister of energy, the Israel Public Utility Authority for Electricity and others on the issue.

Al-Omari added that the company has informed the Palestinian government, the Palestinian Energy Authority and the Palestinian Electricity Regulatory Council of the Israeli response to its request and attached all correspondence related to the subject, including details of Israel’s threats should payments not be made.

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