On May 12, 2025, Kuwait's minister of electricity, water and renewable energy formed a committee under Decision 103/2025 to propose new electricity and water tariffs, and gave it three months to report. No tariff change had been adopted as of November 2026.
A review that kept slipping
In February 2026 the undersecretary, Dr. Adel Al-Zamil, expressed the hope that the tariff review and the ministry's institutional transformation would both be finalized during 2026, taking account of low-income groups. The committee's brief, set in May 2025, includes differentiated rates for peak periods.
Why peak pricing matters
Peak demand is where the system is tested. The minister reported a summer 2026 peak load of 17,540 MW, about 70 MW below summer 2025, a fall of about 0.4%. On April 5, 2026 drone strikes damaged two co-generation power and desalination plants and forced two generating units offline. A 1.5 GW battery program, with a 500 MW first phase, is intended to ease summer grid pressure.
Long contracts, open prices
Meanwhile the ministry is taking on long payment commitments: a 25-year purchase agreement for Az-Zour North 2&3, at 120 MIGD and 2,700 MW, and a planned 30-year power purchase agreement for the 1,100 MW Shagaya Phase 3 Zone 1 solar plant. The ministry has no credit rating of its own; Moody's affirmed the State of Kuwait at A1 on May 22, 2026. The World Bank finds that low tariffs have driven the world's highest per-capita water consumption in the Gulf Cooperation Council region.
How the tender and partnership routes divide the ministry's work, what the 2026 strikes mean for supply, and which projects decide capacity to 2030 are set out in the full report. The full report, Water Systems Overview: Ministry of Electricity Water and Renewable Energy, is available for USD 499. For a free overview, read the Ministry of Electricity Water and Renewable Energy Utility Snapshot.