By : JD News Desk
Jordan Daily – The National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) has paid nearly $13 million in legal fees related to the arbitration case against Attarat Power Company (APCO), which produces electricity from oil shale, NEPCO Manging Director Sofian Al-Bataineh said.
Responding to a question from MP Ayatollah Fraihat, Bataineh said Jordan resorted to arbitration against APCO after exhausting other options, including reducing the tariff or purchasing the project.
He explained that arbitration was pursued under the terms of the power purchase agreement to obtain a ruling confirming that the tariff imposed by the contract was excessively unfair, rendering the agreement legally flawed. He added that NEPCO has the right to either renegotiate the tariff with the project company or terminate the contract.
Since NEPCO is a state-owned entity, it cannot legally pay what it considers an unfair tariff, Bataineh added. He also argued that the guarantee agreement associated with the power purchase contract is legally unenforceable due to the same excessive unfairness.
Regarding the officials involved in signing or supervising the agreement, Bataineh said contracts related to the oil shale power project were signed by relevant government entities. These included an implementation agreement with the Jordanian government, represented by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, as well as a power purchase agreement and a grid connection deal with NEPCO.
The project also involved a mining agreement signed with the Ministry of Energy and the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission, a land lease agreement with the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Lands and Survey, and a direct agreement with the government, the regulatory commission, and NEPCO.
