The Egyptian Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade has given local producers and importers of household air-conditioners a one-year grace period in which to produce and import energy-saving air-conditioning units.

The decision, announced Tuesday, comes in response to Egypt's ongoing summertime electricity crisis, which has been characterised by increasingly frequent power outages countrywide.

The government has attributed the outages – which have led to widespread public anger – to fuel shortages and the decreased production capacity at the nation's power plants. 

Temperatures of new air-conditioning units should not fall below 20 degrees or exceed 28 degrees, according to a ministry press release. 

"Energy-saving measures like this are applied in many countries, including rich nations like Japan," said Mohab Hallouda, senior energy specialist for the Middle East/North Africa region at the World Bank. 

The move is expected to increase retail prices of imported and locally-manufactured household air-conditioning units.

"Expected increases in unit prices, however, will quickly be offset by decreases in monthly electricity bills," said Hallouda.

The ministry did not specify whether similar restrictions would be imposed on public entities and corporations. 

National electricity consumption has increased by more than 10 percent over the past two years. Total daily electricity production in Egypt currently stands at some 27,000 megawatts, while summertime consumption stands at some 29,500 megawatts per day.