A responsible source from the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company revealed that the duration of daily power cuts, referred to by the government as "load shedding," has been increased to three hours instead of two. The load shedding hours will take place between 2 PM and 8 PM local time, or until further notice.
The source stated in exclusive remarks to the Egyptian newspaper (Al-Shorouk) that the increase to three hours of load shedding was due to the severe heatwave currently affecting the country, which impacted the quantities of natural gas necessary for operating power plants. The gas supply has reached only 13 million cubic meters, whereas 25 million cubic meters are required daily to run the electricity generation stations.
The source indicated that there is coordination with the Ministry of Education to avoid load shedding in areas where high school exams, the official governmental certificate qualifying for universities in Egypt, are currently being held. The source mentioned that there are instructions to maintain the quality and stability of the electricity supply to various examination halls, which are attended by hundreds of thousands of students.
According to "Al-Masry Al-Youm," officials from the Ministry of Electricity have urged citizens to work on rationalizing consumption, especially from air conditioning units and coolers.
Natural gas supplies, which assist Egypt in generating electricity, have declined at a time when demand for electricity has risen due to population growth, while the government has heavily subsidized energy prices for years. Egypt started implementing one-hour daily power cuts last summer, which increased to two hours at the beginning of this summer.
Cairo is seeking to reduce its subsidy bill since signing an $8 billion financial support package with the International Monetary Fund last March.
