Oil-rich Iraqi city signs contract to solve its electricity problem during summer through buying 200 megawatts from Federal Kurdistan Region.

"We have a signed contract to solve the electricity problem in Kirkuk during the summer through buying 200 megawatts from a supplier in Kurdistan," said Rakan Saeed al-Juburi, the governor of Kirkuk.

Jaburi said supplies had already started this month with 100 megawatts, which would double by the end of July, adding the contract was signed with Ahmed Ismaeel, one of the biggest private power suppliers in Kurdistan.

Kirkuk, which produces more electricity than it is allocated by Baghdad, in January briefly stopped supplying power to the national network.

It resumed only after officials agreed to immediately increase Kirkuk's quota by nearly 50 percent, still leaving the province woefully short of 24-hour power.

Jaburi said the final price had still not been agreed, but authorities in Kirkuk were negotiating for $0.06 per kilowatt.

The governor said supplies would be paid for with revenues from the Petrodollar agreement, through which Kirkuk receives $1 from the central government for every barrel of oil it exports, amounting to about $1.7 million dollars a month.

For months, angry Iraqis have staged demonstrations demanding improved basic services, especially electricity.

Iraq's infrastructure was devastated during the 2003 US-led invasion and more than a decade of sanctions that preceded it.