The total revenue of the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company (STEG) in 2020 went down 3.5% or 215 million dinars to 5,282 million dinars from 5,474 million dinars in 2019, according to its latest activity report.
This decline in STEG’s revenue results from lower demand for electricity and gas in 2020 that was affected in particular by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Electricity sales (including energy at meters, subscription fees and power bonuses) decreased by 2%, following a 6.1% and 4.5% drop in the quantities sold of medium-voltage and low-voltage electricity, respectively. Therefore, the electricity turnover of STEG has reached 3,989 million dinars in 2020.
As for sales of natural gas and LPG products, they fell by 7%, due to the decrease in sales quantities of liquefied petroleum gas and natural gas, by 41.4% and 4%, respectively. The total revenue of natural gas and LPG therefore stood at 1,282 million dinars.
The year 2020 was characterized by an increase in the number of active staff by 3.4% compared to 2019, following the continued implementation of the recruitment program under the 2015 and 2016 budgets.
The enrolled workforce, which includes an unavailable workforce of 390 officers (including 246 operating under technical cooperation), is 13,891 officers in 2020, compared to 13,467 officers in 2019. This results in an active workforce of 13,501 employees for the year 2020.
Based on INS data (Tunisian population of 11.7 million on January 1, 2020), Tunisia has one active STEG employee for every 866 inhabitants.
By the end of 2020, the structure of active staff was characterized by a staffing ratio of 34.9%.
The wage bill of STEG amounted to 505.4 million dinars in 2020, up 12.5% (+56 million dinars) against an increase in the registered workforce by 3.1%.
The average monthly salary, all categories combined (executive, master, worker), increased from 2,780 dinars in 2019 to 3,032 dinars in 2020.
Financial expenses were kept under control this year at 170.6 million dinars, after a record 1,543 million dinars in 2018. Yet STEG’s financial debt remained for the 3rd consecutive year above the 8 billion dinars mark.
The STEG shows at the end of 2020 a deficit result of 60 million dinars relaying a profit of 106 million dinars in 2019 and a record deficit in 2018 of 2 billion dinars.
At end 2020, STEG thus drags losses carried over of 3.9 billion dinars, negative equity of -2.28 billion dinars, outstanding loans of 7 billion dinars and bank loans of 1.7 billion dinars.
STEG each year receives from the state operating subsidies to cope with the differences in the final selling price of electricity and the cost of purchasing primary energy to produce electricity and this, depending on the price of primary energy on the international market.
The state has paid STEG more than 6 billion dinars in subsidies from 2014 until 2020.
