HERAT CITY(SW):Officials at Da Afghanistan Brishna Shirkat (DABS), the main energy supplier in Afghanistan, has said that they have increased the per unit price for electricity owing to the falling price of afghani against the U.S. dollar.
Wahid Tawhidi, Spokesman for DABS, told Salam Watandar that since Afghanistan heavily relies on imported electricity from neighboring countries that is bought in dollars not changing the prices amid surging dollar was not feasible.
He mentioned that as the dollar surged in the open market, they had to increase the price of electricity in the country.
He added that DABS saw loss of some $ 7 million in the first six months of the current year due to the falling afghani against the dollar.
According to him, DABS pays $ 200 million each year to purchase the imported electricity and as the dollar surged, it got difficult for them to keep paying it with old rates for the consumers.
He further said that the citizens would have to pay 50 cents more for each kilowatt of power from next month on.
For instance, on the electricity bills distributed by the DABS’s Herat Office, it says that the cost of energy would increase for next months.
A number of citizens in Herat, however said considering the abject poverty the citizens live in, the uptick in energy cost was not acceptable.
They said that if the cost of power is based on the cost of foreign currencies, then the government should pay their salaries in dollar as well so that they could afford it.
Currently, Herat imports some 120 megawatt of electricity from Iran and 20 megawatt of electricity from Turkmenistan.
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