Jebrayel in North Lebanon is home to 3000 Lebanese residents and 350 refugees. Like most villages, it endures lengthy public electricity outages reaching 22 hours per day, and  relies on a municipal backup generator that is too small to serve the entire village. This left some households without any back-up power generation and fueled ensions among residents over equitable access to electricity. . As a result of the socio-economic crisis, the municipality was unable to purchase a new generator,. In response, in June 2023, the USAID-funded Community Support Program (CSP) provided a new and efficient back-up generation system ensuring a more consistent power supply for Jebrayel’s 3350 residents. To ensure the sustainability of this intervention, CSP also trained the municipality on financial management.

By January 2024, the municipality reported a 40% decrease in operational and maintenance costs due to the implementation of the new financial management system and more efficient operation of the back-up generation system that substantially reduced fuel consumption. With this improved efficiency, Jebrayel municipality was able to price back-up electricity at a lower rate of 40 cents/kWh, compared to the average price of $1/kWh in nearby villages. This has reduced back-up electricity generation household bills by 20% across the village.

“We never expected to be able to reduce the cost of electricity during this financial crisis, all while ensuring continuous power to all the village. This is historical for Jebrayel, and has significantly improved the daily lives of its residents”, said Jamil Khoury, Mayor of Jebrayel.