A number of issues related to the understaffing of the RAE and its role in the new scheme established by a bill introduced in Parliament to integrate it into the Waste, Energy and Water Resources Authority (PAAEY) are being raised by staff in a statement. “We note with disappointment and displeasure that the final draft of the law – despite our intervention in the letter dated 01.26.2023 to the Ministry of the Interior – does not provide for sufficient staffing for the Office to adequately and effectively exercise, on the one hand, broad powers in the field of energy, and on the other hand, additional duties related to water and waste,” the association of RAE employees said in a statement. Among other things, they point to the problem of the permanent reduction of the staff of the RAE, which, as they say, is inversely proportional to the tasks that it faces. In terms of executive capacity, the RAE ranks at the bottom of the European level, they report, noting that a total of 45 staff members are employed, of which 21 are academic specialists, 6 full-time lawyers and 18 administrative staff, and the required staff of all categories of staff is 211 people, according to the Organization Office. The bill should ensure that, at a minimum, existing RAE employees will continue to work with the subject matter, as well as permanent staff that the RAE has requested and expects to begin recruitment procedures from 2018, the announcement notes.

The union of workers also raises the issue of remuneration corresponding to the qualifications of the RAE personnel and the special requirements arising from the complex subject of energy regulation, indicating that the reduction in personnel is the result of underpayment to its leaders in connection with bodies and enterprises subordinate to the Department. The workers also express their disagreement with the choice of the name of the new Institution, indicating that alphabetical order is not an acceptable criterion, given that the RAE as an independent Institution is not currently established, but has been in existence since 1999, has staff, buildings and resources, and exercises basic powers. Finally, they note that the interpretation of the RAE in the new scheme as an “equal” part with water and waste regulators leads to the humiliation of its role.