30.06.2011                      28.Siwan, 5771                      Jom Kippur Katan

Strompreis:

Electricity prices could leap 20% soon due to stuttering Egyptian gas supply

The pipeline to Israel has been successfully sabotaged twice since the uprising against Hosni Mubarak's regime began this past winter; there was also an unsuccessful attack in late April.

The price of electricity could shortly increase by an unprecedented 20% – chiefly because of the disruptions in the natural gas supply from Egypt, but also because the Environmental Protection Ministry forced the Israel Electric Corporation to use cleaner but relatively expensive fuels to power its electricity generating stations.

Because of the macroeconomic implications of a rate hike of that magnitude, Amnon Shapira, chairman of the Public Utilities Authority's electricity division, has asked the finance and national infrastructure ministers to raise the topic of the increase in the cabinet immediately. The more electricity costs, the more the prices of water and basic products will rise, as will the cost of industrial manufacturing in general….