29 June 2016
Ministry reduces fuel budget allocations

KUWAIT: Electricity consumption hit a new record for daily use by reaching 12,900 megawatts yesterday, The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) announced. It is the first time in Kuwait's history that electricity loads reached such levels, a statement issued by the ministry said. The previous highest consumption rate was 12,810 megawatts recorded last summer, the ministry added.

MEW also expected consumption rates to continue rising over the coming few days due to the rise in temperature, which recorded a maximum of 49 C degrees yesterday, and the resulting rise in electricity demand. Accordingly, the ministry urged all consumers to rationalize consumption and to switch off all unnecessary appliances, especially during peak consumption hours. The ministry had raised the daily production capacity to 13,000 megawatts before the beginning of summer, while an additional 2,000 megawatts can be added through emergency generators.

Budget cut
Meanwhile, MEW has reduced the budget allocated for fuel, oils and power at power and water distillation plants by KD 515 million in its new budget, said informed sources, noting that the budget would be KD 1.035 billion compared to last year's budget of KD 1.550 billion. The sources linked the reduction to the new rationalization plans by hiring some private companies and setting new conditions for public tenders.

Separately, MEW announced filling three top positions in the technical services and main workshops sector after applicants passed written tests and interviews. Assistant undersecretary for technical services and main workshops sector affairs Mohammed Al-Sharhan said the top three scorers out of 45 applicants were selected to head the operations and maintenance sections in Mubarak Al-Kabeer, Ahmadi and Farwaniya.

Labor demands
In other news, Head of MEW employees' syndicate Abdullah Al-Hujailan said the syndicate's board of directors met Undersecretary Mohammed Boshehri and discussed a number of employee demands. "The syndicate's board highly appreciates the efforts exerted by employees in various ministry sectors," Hujailan added, noting that all MEW sectors are currently fully alert to face any overload on the electricity grid during the summer.

© Kuwait Times 2016