The Authority for Electricity Regulation of Oman has announced that it would raise electricity prices for large electricity consumers (government, commercial and industrial consumers) of at least 150 MW/year. This measure, to be implemented at the start of 2017, will initially affect 10,000 consumers. The price increase will depend on the nature of consumers and on peak/off-peak hours. It will be revised every year and announced in November each year.
This group of large consumers represent around 1% of the total number of electricity consumers in Oman but they account for 30% of electricity consumption and around 20% of government subsidies for power generation. The measure is expected to save OMR 100m per year (US$260m/year) and is part of Oman's plans to cut state subsidies and to curb its rising budget deficit (OMR 4.02bn or US$10.4bn in the first seven months of 2016, up from OMR 2.39bn or US$6.2bn a year earlier).