FREE WATER AND ELECTRICITY? YES, IF YOU'RE KUWAITI

UNCLAS KUWAIT 002923 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG ECON KU SUBJECT: FREE WATER AND ELECTRICITY? YES, IF YOU'RE KUWAITI This cable is sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly. Not for Internet distribution. ¶1. (U) On June 27, 2005 Kuwait's National Assembly unanimously approved a law that will waive up to 2000 Kuwaiti Dinar (about $6,850) of unpaid electricity and water bills per Kuwaiti household. Electricity and water issues have been debated between the GOK and the National Assembly for many years due to the failure of the government to send out invoices and collect payments on time. This law applies only to Kuwaiti citizens (about 965,000) and will not be extended to the 1.7 million expatriates living in Kuwait. ¶2. (U) The good news is that Kuwaitis who have paid their bills won't miss out on the GOK's largess. A 2000KD credit will be given to all household accounts, whether or not they are overdue on their payments. For households that have paid their bills the 2000KD will be held as a credit against future charges. For households that have more than 2000KD in overdue charges, the credit will be automatically applied to this debt. However, if the families do not start making regular payments towards the remainder of their overdue bills, the credit will be withdrawn. ¶3. (SBU) During a July 21 meeting at the Ministry of Energy, U/S Yousef Al-Hajeri told Econ/C and visiting DOE officials that many Kuwaitis have refused to pay their electricity and water bills since 1991. He explained that many Kuwaitis have a strong sense of entitlement to all of Kuwait's natural resources and feel that they shouldn't have to pay for basic utilities. However, he added, for humanitarian reasons the Ministry could not just disconnect their water or electric services. ¶4. (U) Unofficial estimates put the total cost of this new law at KD 350 million (about 1 billion USD). ******************************************** Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ******************************************** TUELLER