Rif Dimashq governorate has announced the issuance of an official pricing for private fuel-operated electricity generators, known locally as “ampere subscriptions” starting from the beginning of the coming year.

In a statement to the local Sham FM radio on Wednesday, December 27, the head of Rif Dimashq Provincial Council, Ibrahim Jumaa, mentioned that a committee was formed to determine the conditions for “ampere” usage, ensuring non-interference with the power grid and compliance with environmental conditions, without noise or pollution, and to determine its pricing as of the beginning of 2024.

He explained that the most widespread areas for “ampere” usage in the governorate currently include Douma, Harasta, Qaboun, and Ain Tarma, while “ampere” usage has not yet been introduced to some other areas.

Jumaa revealed that the governorate’s share of regular electricity amounts to 350 megawatts, 250 megawatts of which are allocated to vital facilities (hospitals, mills, and others), while the residential areas’ share is only 100 megawatts, which is insufficient to provide electricity for long periods, according to him.

Jumaa also noted that during the recent period, there have been unsuccessful attempts to implement a “rationing” program of one hour of supply in exchange for five hours of power cuts due to the “shortage of amounts allocated to the governorate,” prompting residents to rely on “ampere” generators in many areas.

The expansion of electricity usage from “ampere” generators continues, especially with the arrival of the winter season and the long power outages, as the government has failed to improve the electricity situation.

Since the start of the winter season, the hours of electricity cuts (rationing) have increased in Damascus and its countryside to at least eight hours of cuts for less than an hour of supply, with variations in outages between one area and another.

Several markets in the Syrian capital have begun to rely on the “ampere” system for electricity after years of the government’s refusal to license its operation.

Samir Dakak, a member of Damascus Provincial Council, stated that the al-Shaalan, al-Hamra, and al-Salhiya markets have started operating with the “ampere” system after obtaining the necessary licenses, according to the local newspaper “Al-Watan,” last May.

The areas under the control of the Syrian regime’s government require around six thousand megawatts of electricity, while the generated quantity currently amounts to only two thousand megawatts, according to statements by the Minister of Electricity, Ghassan al-Zamel.

The past ten years have significantly exacerbated the service conditions related to electricity in the areas controlled by the regime’s government, where the individual’s share of state electricity consumption has become 15% of what it was in 2010, according to a research study conducted by the researchers Sinan Hatahet and Karam Shaar in September 2021.