Source: L'Orient Today
The official website of the Kataeb Party leader
Security & Justice
Ministries, Police Respond to Alleged Sexual Harassment of Children During School Outing
Parents of students at a private school in Lebanon have raised alarm on social media after more than a dozen children were reportedly subjected to group sexual abuse during a school outing to a newly opened outdoor adventure park in the Metn area.
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Hezbollah Insider Shared Intel with Mossad for Crypto and Cash Payouts
Lebanese judicial authorities are continuing their investigation into Mohammad Saleh, a religious singer known for his close ties to Hezbollah, who was recently arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Opinion
Cannabis Legalization in Lebanon ‘Could Generate $1-3 Billion Annually’
A 2019 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated that Lebanon was the third largest source for ‘cannabis resin’ worldwide, only behind Morocco and Afghanistan. The UNODC estimated that roughly 6% of all the cannabis resin on earth originates in Lebanon.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Lebanon cannot be fixed, because it is not broken. It is captured.
Everyone has a theory about how to fix Lebanon.
Monday, May 19, 2025
Sports
First Place on the Line in Madrid Derby as Real and Atletico Squabble Over Refereeing
Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid meet in their second derby of the season with the Liga lead on the line and the focus on refereeing. Real Madrid has spent the days ahead of Saturday’s match complaining of mistakes against the club.
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Zhou Guanyu Joins Ferrari as a Reserve Driver for 2025 F1 Season
The first Chinese driver in Formula 1, Zhou Guanyu, is heading back to Ferrari as one of its reserve drivers for the 2025 season.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Monday 13 March 2023 17:00:19
Thousands of Lebanese Households Unsubscribe from EDL
Following a sharp increase in the rates for electricity provided by state supplier Electricité du Liban (EDL), many subscribers are rushing to the provider's offices to cancel their contracts, a source within EDL's administration told L'Orient-Le Jour.
The public electricity sector in Lebanon has been in crisis for the past 30 years, and EDL now provides only a few hours of power per day. Subscription rates have since the end of last year been revised sharply upwards. They are now calculated at the rate of the Sayrafa platform, which has increased significantly in recent weeks.
EDL branches in Halba, Abdeh and Qobeiyat, in the Akkar governorate, on Monday witnessed a large influx of subscribers eager to cancel their contracts to escape the high tariffs, our correspondent in the north reported. Most households, in order to fill the gaps in EDL's power supply, already pay high monthly subscription fees to private power suppliers. Other consumers bridge the gaps in state supply by installing solar panels, which have become increasingly common in Lebanon since the start of the socio-economic crisis in 2019.
According to an EDL source, recently more than 2,000 households throughout the country have been unsubscribing from the public network each day, with crowds forming from 6:30 a.m. daily at EDL centers.
According to a schedule sent to L'Orient-Le Jour by the same source, a household subscribed to 15 amperes, for example, would have to pay $7.45 (at the Sayrafa rate) per month for installation and subscription fees alone, even if their actual power consumption is zero. Any power consumed would be charged in addition to the $7.45.
According to the source, the regions likely to be most affected by consumers seeking to unsubscribe from EDL are Beirut, Metn and Kesrouan. In these regions bills are paid regularly by subscribers, unlike in some other are where EDL struggles to collect its dues for various reasons, including the refusal of some subscribers to pay their bills.
Illegal connections to EDL's network are also regularly noted. The power provider on March 6 initiated, in coordination with the security services, the first stage of an operation to eliminate encroachments on its network.
On Thursday, the NGO Human Rights Watch said in a report that the electricity crisis is worsening poverty in Lebanon, accusing the government of failing to enforce the "right to electricity.”