A new deputy for the minister of electricity was appointed on Thursday with the president's supervision.

Osama Asran, former head of the South Cairo Electricity Distribution Company, took the constitutional oath before President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in an rarely-invoked presidential prerogative as traditionally only ministers underwent the rite.

A spokesman for the ministry announced in September that four of its senior officials would be replaced as part of a restructuring of top management amid a pressing power crisis.

Egypt has been suffering an electricity problem for years, with power cuts leaving millions in the dark at intervals throughout this summer.

On 4 September, a mass power outage hit large parts of the country, grounded Cairo's underground lines and put some television stations off the air.

El-Sisi has urged patience from the Egyptian people, saying that renovating the power sector will cost LE130 billion ($19 billion) that the government hopes to attract in the form of investments.