No price rise for those consuming less than lOOkWh per month. A number of direct payments (subsidies) have been made to address this. In September 2000 indexing was suspended as it became politically difficult to sustain due to high international prices (Verme, El-Massnaoui, & Araar, 2014). The justification for subsidies was to ensure price stability, consumer purchasing power, and the promotion of selected industrial sectors.