Yesterday, the CEO of the Electric Company, Eli Glickman, announced that the IEC cannot meet the costs of fuel and they must raise electricity rates 30-40%. Immediately. The board of the IEC seems to have approved it already, if I understand correctly, and they are requesting approval from the government to implement the rate hike. He accused the government of being afraid to allow the IEC to raise rates because of the recent wave of social protests against rising prices. (source: Globes)
Well, it looks like Glickman is putting the government, and the IEC, on a collision course. The people behind the recent "cottage cheese protest" that successfully encouraged the dairy companies to reduce prices of cottage cheese and other basic cheeses by promoting a ban among the general public have now set their sights on the next target - the Israel Electric Corporation, considering the recent announcement.
The people behind the protest announced that they are starting a protest movement against the IEC and they are calling on the public to rebel against them.
The idea is that they want people to cancel their outstanding payment orders, direct payments from the bank or credit card companies, and then not pay upcoming bills. This would, short-term, harm the companies cash flow and make them take notice. (source: Ladaat)
After recently raising the prices twice, the protest leaders say, perhaps, if after recent hikes they are still unable to get by, it is time for the Electric Company to find ways to make the company more efficient instead of constantly raising the prices. They plan on petitioning the members of knesset and public figures to not support the rate hike.
Ah, the irony. The rise in prices is because delivery of the relatively cheap fuel from Egypt has become unreliable due to constant sabotage. The saboteurs could not have had this much success without the social protests which took place in Egypt not so long ago.
ReplyDelete"I am not quite sure how one rebels against the electric company, as our lives are run by electricity, be it our refrigerators, computers, hair dryers, hot water heaters, heaters, lights, stereos, mp3 players and every other amenity we have grown accustomed to by and in the world of 2011."
ReplyDeleteHad you considered hiring (or even buying) a generator, Rafi? It's cheaper than you might think.
how do you charge the generator?
ReplyDeleteif I am not mistaken, and I might be, the generator some people use for electricity on shabbos is charged by the regular electricity during the week
An afterthought, if I may, to my earlier comment.
ReplyDeleteI wondered who is the largest shareholder in חברת החשמל לשראל.
Guess who? The State of Israel, which owns no less than 99.8% of all the stock!
"how do you charge the generator?"
ReplyDeleteGasoline.