Kirkuk provincial council opens probe into electricity privatization project

BAGHDAD, Iraq — The Kirkuk Provincial Council's Services Commission has launched an investigation into the city's electricity privatization and smart meter conversion project after identifying irregularities in its implementation, the commission's head, Ahmed Fatih, said. Fatih said the council voted to send urgent technical, legal and administrative committees from the Ministry of Electricity to review how the project has been carried out. He told the council that one of the two companies running the project withdrew after the ministry's Legal Department cited a breach of contract, while the second company lacks experience in the electricity sector and had previously been involved in road paving. The commission found that residents had been charged 10,000 dinars under the label of electricity consumption receipt printing, with some billed up to 75,000 dinars through various fees including connection and installation charges. According to Fatih, areas covered by the project have not received the promised 24-hour daily electricity supply roughly a year after the rollout began, faults have not been repaired within the three-hour window specified in the contract, and collection rates have fallen by 50 percent compared with the pre-implementation period.