Electricity fee collection: private service-and-collection contracts and uncollected bills (from 2019 to 2026)

The Ministry of Electricity has hired private companies to rehabilitate networks and collect fees, while its directorates have left large bills unpaid. In January 2019 the Integrity Commission said the award of the Ghadir rehabilitation and collection contract in Baghdad had no legal basis and that the contract was void because the company never provided the agreed mortgage; the company had received an investment licence before any smart meters were installed. In May 2019 the Commission asked the ministry to review all service-and-collection companies. In May 2021 it seized the file of a Wasit contract under which a private company collected IQD 819 million, against IQD 4.17 billion collected by the directorate before. In 2023 and 2024 it reported unpaid bills of commercial, industrial and investment users: IQD 53 billion in Dhi Qar, IQD 50 billion in Muthanna, IQD 32 billion in Wasit and IQD 19 billion in Diwaniyah. The audit board's 2025 report found that the Muthanna branch had installed only 45 percent of the meters it bought, and that an electronic collection agreement with International Smart Card (Qi Card) was signed 13 months late. In July 2026 its deputy head put weak collection at about IQD 10 trillion.