In Morocco, electricity bills under 100 dirhams could become free

The proposal is among the commitments put forward by the Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) ahead of the 2026 elections. It would exempt households whose monthly electricity bill does not exceed 100 dirhams from payment.

At this stage, it is neither a government decision nor a measure scheduled to take effect. Its financing arrangements and the precise criteria for benefiting from it also remain to be defined.

An energy expert considers the idea interesting, but believes that setting a threshold in dirhams would create differences between households depending on the rates applied by their distributor. He suggests using the quantity of electricity consumed instead.

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Under his scenario, households consuming up to 100 kilowatt-hours per month would pay nothing. However, from 101 kWh onward, the entire bill would once again become payable. This mechanism is nevertheless not part of the PAM’s initial promise: it is a technical proposal put forward by the expert.

An annual bill of four billion dirhams

The expert estimates the cost of making electricity free at around four billion dirhams per year. This estimate is based in particular on data presented in 2018 by former Energy Minister Aziz Rabbah: 4.1 million Moroccan households were then consuming between 0 and 150 kWh per month, with an average bill of 75 dirhams.

On this old and broader basis than the threshold under consideration, the theoretical expenditure would reach nearly 3.7 billion dirhams per year. The actual cost can only be calculated using updated data specifying the number of households whose consumption remains below 100 kWh or whose bill does not exceed 100 dirhams.

The measure could also alter habits. Households consuming slightly more than 100 kWh would have an incentive to reduce their use in order to benefit from the free electricity. The expert estimates that a 10% reduction in consumption among the households concerned would represent annual savings of around 370 gigawatt-hours.

For the poorest families, however, the benefit would be significant. A monthly bill of 100 dirhams represents 1,200 dirhams per year. In a rural household with monthly income of 1,500 dirhams, this saving would amount to almost one month’s income.

The promise could therefore become an important issue in the electoral campaign. But given its cost, the choice of threshold and the risks of inequality between subscribers, implementing it would still require many decisions to be made.