Generators and solar panels on agenda for two meetings at Interior Ministry

Two separate meetings, respectively dedicated to the regulation of private electric generators and solar panels, were organized Tuesday at the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, according to an official statement.

Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar presided over both meetings. Justice Minister Adel Nassar, Economy and Trade Minister Amer Bisat, and the representative of the Ministry of Energy and Water, Boutros Hadsheeti, took part in the first meeting. The second brought together the acting director general of Urbanism, Ali Ramadan, the acting director general of Common Administrative Affairs, Rasha Hourani, as well as relevant officers from the Internal Security Forces.

No information was released about the outcomes of these meetings.

Private generators, in principle illegal, have been tolerated for years, with Lebanese citizens relying heavily on them to compensate for the country's electricity production shortfall. Their rates are regulated by the Ministry of Energy and Water, but many of them do not comply with these rules.

Meanwhile, individual solar panel installations have surged since the economic crisis started in 2019, a period during which the already limited capacities of Electricité du Liban (EDL) were almost wiped out, as the public supplier could no longer count on Central Bank advances to finance its fuel purchases. Many of these installations have been deployed haphazardly, posing risks to the safety of buildings and people nearby.