Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday pledged that electricity rates will drop across the Kingdom next year, saying his “sharing policy”, promised before the July 29 national elections, “will come true in the next 14 days”.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Lower Sesan II Hydropower Dam on Monday he said: “Today is December 17 and in just 14 days more, the electricity rates will come down.
“I would like to confirm that the promise the Cambodian People’s Party [CPP] made before the elections will come true in 14 days.”
The Lower Sesan II in Cambodia’s northeast Stung Treng province is, at 400MW, Cambodia’s largest hydropower facility to date.
Before the July national elections, the ruling CPP set out its main policies and targets, including the reduction of electricity rates for all user brackets nationwide by next year and into 2020, an initiative it regards as a “priority”.
Household electricity consumption between one and 10kWh will drop in cost from 480 to 380 riel ($0.12 to $0.10) per kWh next year and into 2020.
For household electricity consumption between 11 and 15kWh per month, the price will drop from 610 riel this year to 480 riel next year and in 2020, while household electricity consumption between 51 and 200 per kWh will drop from 770 riel this year to 610 riel by next year and into 2020.
He said for household electricity consumption over 200kWh per month, the price will go down from 770 riel this year to 740 or 730 riel next year and into 2020.
Hun Sen hailed the fulfilling of his campaign promise to lower electricity rates, which he called a “sharing policy” as it supports poor people.
“This is a policy supporting poor people, but the rich should not be jealous. This is a real result and the electricity is available. It was not [an empty] promise,” he stressed.
For electricity consumption at schools, hospitals and health centres, the current rate is 770 riel per kWh, but will go down to 610 riel per kWh next year and into 2020.
In the agricultural sector, in the hours between 9pm and 7am, the rate will remain the same at 480 riel per kWh.
Hun Sen also took to Facebook on Monday to hail the lower rates: “This is the effort of the current government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen in helping Cambodia achieve major achievements to make people’s lives better.”
The president of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, Pav Sina, welcomed the price reductions, saying it would help poor people and workers.
“It is a good thing that electricity rates will decrease. It will help people, especially workers, as the minimum wage has just been raised in October and will take effect from next month."
“The reduction of electricity rates will make people happy. They will welcome the effort to lower electricity rates . . . even if the rates for the water and the prices of other goods are the same. I think that it will really lower people’s expenses,” he said.
