Lebanon cuts power to around 100 public bodies over unpaid bills as electricity crisis deepens

Lebanon's Ministry of Energy and Water has begun shutting off the electricity supply to approximately 100 public institutions that have outstanding bill payments, according to local media. The decision began to take effect on Monday.

The move marks a further escalation in Energy Minister Joe Saddi's dispute with the government. Saddi recently began boycotting cabinet meetings over what he says is the government's failure to address his demands to increase power supply, reduce the burden of fuel costs and settle unpaid bills owed to the state-owned electricity company.

Lebanon has struggled with power cuts for years, but state-provided electricity dropped sharply following the 2019 economic and banking crisis. In Beirut, state electricity was once available for about 21 hours a day; in recent years that has fallen to just two to four hours, with some days seeing no power at all.

In place of a reliable state supply, an alternative economy has emerged in which residents rely on private generators, many of them run by political parties or individuals with close ties to power.

Jessica Obeid, a Lebanese energy expert, said the key problem in the power sector is corruption. In her words, the sector has corruption across the entire supply chain, amounting to billions of dollars, so it is not something that will disappear overnight.

Obeid added that Lebanon relies on very expensive diesel and its state power plants are very old, so band-aid solutions will not work. What the sector mostly lacks, she said, is a vision of what kind of power system the country wants.

When a government led by reformists took control in early 2025, there was hope the situation would improve. But more than a year and a half later, state electricity supplies are still meagre, while energy costs and inflation have skyrocketed. The World Bank projects that year-on-year inflation in Lebanon will be 17.5 percent this year.

The dispute over electricity has heightened speculation about a possible cabinet reshuffle and the resignation of Saddi, a member of the right-wing Lebanese Forces (LF) party. Saddi told Lebanese media he had been pushing Prime Minister Nawaf Salam's government to prioritise his ministry's portfolio earlier this year, but eased the pressure when Israel's war on Lebanon intensified in early March.

After the draft 2027 budget was announced in October, the LF and Saddi objected that not enough attention was being given to the electricity sector. In recent weeks Saddi has stepped up efforts to draw attention to his ministry's needs: in early October he pledged to boycott cabinet meetings, and last Thursday three ministerial colleagues from his party joined him in boycotting a meeting.

Sami Zoughaib, an economist and research manager at the Beirut-based think tank The Policy Initiative, said the boycott was a political move by Saddi and his party to avoid losing popular support. If they fail in the eyes of the people, he said, it would be very difficult for them to hold the ministry again.

Amid the crisis, Qatar has stepped in with a lifeline. Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani visited Beirut last month and confirmed plans for an energy partnership, including a solar power project. Reuters subsequently reported that Doha has offered to build two power plants over the next three years and to supply the country under a 20-year liquefied natural gas deal.

Analysts say that even if the deal is approved, Lebanon's electricity sector still needs structural reforms to meet residents' needs, potentially including rebuilding the entire grid. Zoughaib said the state cannot reproduce the pre-2019 model of state-subsidised electricity because it simply does not have the money; reforming the entire sector is the only route to a sustainable solution.