The Working Group for Energy Democracy is a Tunisian praxis-focused working group of the General Federation of Electricity and Gas (FGEG), an affiliate of the UGTT national centre. The working group holds discussions, promotes political education, explores alternatives to the neoliberal energy system, and advances research by and for workers by linking the trade union struggles with those of communities, social movements, and civil society.

As some private photovoltaic plants began operating and connecting to the Tunisian electricity grid (November and December 2025), government propaganda began to spread fallacies about the efficiency of these projects and compare them to their public counterparts. This event represents, for the Working Group for Energy Democracy, a manifestation of the failure of the government's energy transition policy, given that the goal was to install at least 1000 additional megawatts of renewable energies in 2025 – while barely reaching 200 megawatts. We therefore considered it necessary to refute the basis of this propaganda, especially with regard to the real cost of photovoltaic plants and to reveal the various privileges and incentives that the private sector receives for completing this type of projects at a high cost to public finance.

In this context, the paper “The real cost of electricity produced from renewable energies”, prepared by the Working Group for Energy Democracy, contains a review of the Tunisian model in this field. The paper also includes a comparison between the different types of private electricity production (large plants and small plants), as well as the impact of the new legislation on the adoption of a fixed tariff regime instead of a request for proposals, especially for small plants, on the real cost of electricity produced from renewable energies.

However, the most important point of the document is to explain the illegitimacy of comparing the cost of producing electricity through the public utility and the selling price of electricity produced by private PV. This particular argument is used by official propaganda and private sector lobbies to justify the privatization of renewable energies. And yet, the paper refutes this justification and exposes the fallacy behind this comparison by using official figures and objective analysis, which would support the trade union's argument for public electricity: It is not a matter of ideological conviction but rather a logical cost analysis based on objective data. In addition, this paper includes arguments for the efficiency of public electricity production as well as the advantages of implementing renewable energy projects through public company that aim to provide citizens with electricity and not make a profit at their expense. 

Everything mentioned in this paper is part of what we can call the ideological battle (or the battle of narratives) aimed at undermining neoliberal approaches by targeting their most important foundations in favor of public approaches and arming unions with the necessary support for their point of view.

“The ideological-cultural battle, unlike the military battle, must focus on the strengths of the enemy and therefore must mobilize the most important tools at our disposal.”        

Antonio Gramsci

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