12,000 families to benefit from solar project this year — ministry

AMMAN — A total of 12,000 families are expected to benefit from a National Aid Fund (NAF) project using solar cells to cut down on electricity bills this year, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Hala Zawati said on Tuesday.

The families are part of the 7,000 households the ministry plans to include in the project by 2020, according to a ministry statement. Eventually, some 100,000 families are expected to be included in the programme. 

People interested in the programme can apply for it on the ministry’s website, at the main offices of the Fils Al Reef Department and at its office branches in the governorates, the statement noted. 

Those accepted for the programme will have solar cells installed on their homes to help bring down their electricity bills, Zawati said, adding that the programme aims to expand the Fils Al Reef’s base of beneficiaries.

Fils Al Reef is a fee added to each kilowatt a household uses and was initially introduced with the aim of financing the installation of power cells in remote areas.

The ministry said it hopes the venture will reduce the cost of monthly electricity bills, and consequently, contribute to increasing the monthly income of those in the programme. 

The project is part of the ministry’s efforts to spread a culture of ethical power consumption by utilising sustainable energy sources and increasing their contribution to the total energy mix, Zawati noted.

The Fils Al Reef Department is accepting applicants who are already beneficiaries of the NAF, whose monthly consumption does not exceed 300 kilowatts per hour and who have enough space to install the system, according to the department’s director at the ministry, Ziad Saaydeh.