File Photo: The historic Korba Square, located in Cairo's Heliopolis district, dressed in Red, Gold and Green during Christmas celebrations. (Photo: Amira Noshokaty)
Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel-Aal directed heads of districts across the capital to follow up on rationalising use of electricity in all buildings and facilities belonging to the governorate during official work hours, a statement by the governorate said on Sunday.
He also ordered interior and exterior lights turned off on government buildings after work hours unless necessary as in the case of the operation and emergency rooms.
Abdel-Aal also ordered turning off of air conditioning in all government facilities, rationalising use of energy in all places of worship and also reducing lighting of billboards.
Moreover, the statement said, shops will be obliged to reduce the overly bright lights used on their facades while public institutions will have to use LEDs to save power.
Large sports facilities, including clubs, stadiums, football playgrounds and covered halls, will have to reduce power use and switch off all lights following their night events, the statement added.
In August, Madbouly announced the government's plan to rationalise energy amid soaring energy prices in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war that broke out in February 2022.
The premier said the government is rationalising energy in order to save natural gas to redirect it for exporting and increase Egypt’s sources of foreign currency during the global energy crisis.
Egypt has an electricity surplus of more than 25 percent, according to officials. At the time, Madbouly said Egypt seeks to redirect 15 percent of natural gas used for electricity generation to export with the aim of bringing in more foreign currency.
Madbouly told the governors that redirecting only 10 percent would bring in approximately $300 million per month, while 15 percent would bring in $450 million per month.
"The more we can rationalise our electricity consumption, the more we will succeed in saving foreign currency," Madbouly said.
Egypt, which is self-sufficient in natural gas thanks to major gas discoveries over the past few years.
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