Israel energy supplier mulls legal action over PA debts

World Bulletin / News Desk

Israel's main electricity supplier said on Monday that it considers legal action against the Palestinian Authority (PA) due to the latter's inability to repay its accumulating debts.

In a statement, the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) said it had sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informing him that the PA owed it some 1.5 billion Israeli shekels (roughly $430 million) as of the end of April.

The company said it planned to cut power intermittently to Palestinian homes.

The Israeli firm supplies Palestinian homes in the West Bank provinces of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Bethlehem and Jericho with electricity via the Palestinian Jerusalem District Electricity Company.

Israel threatened last month to use tax dues collected on behalf of the PA (around $155 million each month) to repay the PA's debts to the IEC.

The move followed a bid by the PA to accede to a raft of U.N. agencies and conventions.