In Jordan, the energy cost of water affects the entire supply chain. Pumping, treating and transporting mobilize electricity even before water comes to the tap. The Aqaba-Amman project must bring a new resource through desalination. It also makes it more urgent to control this expenditure in a country where network losses remain high.
The Jordanian diagnosis published by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in 2025 is the number at stake. Electricity accounts for about half of the operating costs of water operators. The document describes the water sector as the kingdom’s first individual energy consumer.
These data relate to the structure of the sector, not the price charged to each household this week. They nevertheless shed light on the problem discussed in the regional press on 10 November: increasing the available volumes also means financing their production and delivery.
Energy cost of water starts before tap
The scarcity of resources forces Jordan to mobilize significant equipment and transfers. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation is leading a policy that combines supply, loss reduction and energy efficiency. Treating these three components separately would mask a share of the actual cost of the service.
A less efficient pump consumes more for the same volume. A leaking pipe loses water already taken, and sometimes already treated and transported. Improvement of facilities can therefore simultaneously affect the available resource and the amount of electricity needed to deliver it.
German cooperation GIZ has dedicated a programme to energy management in partnership with the Jordanian Ministry. The fact sheet recalls that energy costs exceeded half of the sector’s operating bill in 2021. This historical landmark confirms the age of the problem. It should not be presented as a new expenditure statement in November 2026.
Unbilled water, a loss that is not limited to leaks
The EBRD diagnosis mentions a 47% unbilled share of water. This indicator does not mean that 47% of water escapes exclusively from pipelines. It also covers distributed volumes that do not generate expected revenues.
The technical definition distinguishes physical losses, such as leakage, from apparent losses related to unauthorized consumption or counting errors. It also includes permitted but not billed consumption. The United Nations Climate Technology Centre and Network takes up this distribution in its presentation of loss management.
The 47% rate therefore describes water volumes, not a proportion of invoices issued and outstanding. Repairing the pipelines and securing the meters respond to different causes of these losses. This rate, derived from the 2025 diagnosis, is not an updated survey of all companies in 2026.
Aqaba-Amman adds desalination and transport
The Aqaba-Amman programme aims to produce 300 million cubic metres of desalinated water annually. The EBRD file describes a 438 km pipeline and a 281 megawatt-peak renewable energy system. These figures correspond to the planned facilities, not a service already available.
Desalination must reduce pressure on conventional resources. But water produced on the Gulf of Aqaba will still have to reach the areas served. The energy balance of the project therefore also depends on pumping stations and transport to Amman. Production at the outlet of the factory does not summarize the cost of the cubic metre delivered.
National Carrier Project Company, created by Meridiam and Suez to carry the program, states that the renewable site must cover approximately 30% of the energy needs of the project. This announced proportion illustrates the expected contribution of solar energy. It also shows that the program is not based on a fully solar diet.
The network and operation of the pumps also count
The development of renewables does not exempt them from organising their use. Solar production varies during the day, while water supplies must remain reliable. Storage possibilities, network capacity and the organization of pumping are part of the same technical problem.
For operators, the reduction in electricity consumption per delivered volume is thus a separate objective of building new capacity. It can go through better equipment and adjustment, without waiting for the entire national energy system to transform.
The National Water Strategy 2023-2040 also provides for a gradual reduction in unbilled water. The EBRD’s diagnosis recalls the targets of 37% in 2030 and 25% in 2040. Monitoring should distinguish between the saved volumes, the actually recovered revenues and the energy consumed for each cubic metre supplied.
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