STEG discloses 7.36 billion dinar debt and 6.06 billion dinars in unpaid bills as parliament weighs World Bank loans

Tunisia's state electricity and gas monopoly reported a total debt of 7.356 billion dinars as of 23 June 2026, alongside 6.061 billion dinars in unpaid bills owed by households, private companies and public institutions — figures disclosed to parliament as lawmakers examine two World Bank-backed loans intended to fund the company's reform programme.

The Société Tunisienne de l'Électricité et du Gaz (STEG) presented the figures on Wednesday 24 June at a hearing of the Assembly of People's Representatives' (ARP) Finance and Budget Committee. The session was called to assess two draft laws — bills 38/2026 and 39/2026 — approving state guarantees for the loans, which were agreed with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) on 3 November 2025 and fast-tracked by the ARP Bureau on 22 June.

Two World Bank loans on an accelerated track

The first loan totals 384.8 million euros (around 1.27 billion dinars) from the IBRD. The second amounts to 30 million dollars (around 87 million dinars), also from the IBRD acting as accredited entity of the Clean Technology Fund.

STEG representatives told the committee that the financing slots into a performance contract for 2024–2028 signed between the state and STEG on 5 February 2025. That contract sets quantified reform targets across financial, technical, commercial and governance dimensions, they said.

Lawmakers pressed the company on how the new borrowing would interact with STEG's existing debt load, on mechanisms for recovering outstanding receivables from public bodies, on network losses and electricity theft, and on whether the national grid can absorb the renewable capacity being planned.

Tariffs that do not cover costs

STEG officials attributed the company's financial strain to a cluster of structural factors. Electricity tariffs in 2025 averaged 290.7 millimes per kilowatt hour against a production cost of 456.3 millimes — a gap of roughly 36 percent. For natural gas, the average sale price was 647.4 dinars per tonne of oil equivalent, against a production cost of 1,497.7 dinars.

The company said subsidies from the state budget have been insufficient and delayed, forcing STEG to cover the shortfall through borrowing. Network losses — estimated at 19.7 percent of production, a share linked in part to electricity theft and illegal connections — add a further drain on revenues.

Tunisia's electricity output still relies on gas for more than 95 percent of generation. Fuel costs account for around 72 percent of the cost of producing electricity and 89 percent of the cost of producing gas, the company told the committee.

A deteriorating trajectory

The scale of the problem has grown sharply over a short period. STEG's debt stood at 5.83 billion dinars at the end of 2024, according to earlier financial disclosures; the figure has risen by around 1.5 billion dinars since then. Unpaid receivables were 4.16 billion dinars at the end of January 2025, according to STEG's recovery director; they have risen to 6.061 billion dinars in the five months since.

The company posted a net loss of 229.76 million dinars in 2024, after a loss of 489.57 million dinars in 2023. Cumulative losses reached 3.68 billion dinars, against revenues of 6.07 billion dinars and a cost of sales of 9.56 billion dinars for the same period.

Renewable targets at the centre of the reform plan

Government and STEG representatives told the committee that several renewable energy projects are already advanced. Contracts for 500 megawatts of renewable electricity have been signed and 262 megawatts were commissioned during 2025 and 2026, they said.

The 2024–2028 contract sets a target of 27 percent renewable electricity by 2028 and 35 percent by 2030. It also aims to cut the cost of energy supply by 23 percent, reduce the public subsidy burden by more than 2 billion dinars, improve STEG's net result by around 3 billion dinars, and mobilise around 2.8 billion dollars in private investment.

The Finance and Budget Committee concluded the session by finding that the two draft laws form part of a broader structural reform aimed at restoring STEG's finances and accelerating Tunisia's energy transition. It said it would continue examining the bills after reviewing the full text of the 2024–2028 performance contract. A date for the plenary vote has not yet been set.