Turkish firm shuts down power supply for crisis-hit Lebanon

A Turkish company that provides electricity to Lebanon from two power barges says it has shut down its operations over delayed payments

BEIRUT -- A Turkish company that provides electricity to Lebanon from two power barges shut down its operations on Friday over delayed payments. The move is expected to increase outages in the crisis-hit Mediterranean country. The company Karpowership has been threatening to shut down its power supply to Lebanon for weeks and said it took the decision Friday because of 18 months of overdue payments. However the decision comes after a Lebanese prosecutor’s decision last week to seize the ships pending an investigation into corruption and graft allegations. The company has called those accusations baseless. The company provides around 370 megawatts — about a quarter of Lebanon’s supply - through two electricity barges that have been anchored off the Lebanese coast since 2013. “For 18 months, we have been exceedingly flexible with the state, continually supplying power without payment or a payment plan, because the country was already facing very hard times,” the Karpowership statement said.