Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker said on Tuesday that he would be holding a press conference in the coming few days to announce the details of government plans to ration the use of electricity nationwide.
The government announced two weeks ago that it would adopt a new plan to rationalise energy consumption, with the objective of redirecting the natural gas used in power stations for export.
Shaker said in an interview that in implementing the new electricity rationing plan, the ministry would probe the possibility of phasing out some projects or postponing the launch of others.
“From now on, we will be focusing on high-priority projects only and in a way that relieves the state budget of financial burdens in the light of the current global food and fuel crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine,” Shaker said.
He said that Egypt has an electricity surplus of more than 20,000 Megawatts (MW) and that this can meet all the power needs of government, public and private business, and the household sectors.
“We have been able to achieve this surplus even though the consumption of electricity has increased over the past eight years, reaching a peak of around 34,000 MW during the hot summer days and high temperatures. This shows that Egypt’s national electric power grid is strong and reliable,” Shaker said.
On 10 August, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli said the government was drafting an emergency plan to rationalise energy consumption nationwide and seeking to save gas to export to earn the foreign currency the country needs to shore up finances affected by the war in Ukraine.
Shaker told Al-Ahram last week that the government has spent LE468 billion on investments in power generation over the past eight years, leading to adding 30,000 MW to the national grid.
“These investments have been mostly directed to the renewable energy sector in order to raise its contribution to power generation in Egypt to 42 per cent by 2035,” Shaker said. He said the six-month war in Ukraine had hit world economies hard by pushing up global oil prices to unprecedented levels.
“This, combined with the two-year coronavirus pandemic, has adversely affected the country’s finances and foreign-exchange reserves. As a result, Egypt, like many countries, is being forced to rationalise energy consumption and to reduce the use of natural gas by 15 per cent to be redirected for export.”
“Citizens and businesses should be aware that the more they abide by the power-saving plan, the more we will be able to gain more of the foreign exchange necessary to meet the country’s import needs and contain inflation.”
Shaker explained that under the plan Egypt’s 27 provincial governors will coordinate with the Ministry of Electricity to find the most-practical and out-of-the-box methods for rationing the use of electricity.
“Officials at local councils, government administrations, and places of worship will launch awareness-raising campaigns among ordinary people on the need to save power, including by using power-saving lamps in houses, streets, public squares and sporting facilities and particularly at indoor halls that operate at night,” Shaker said.
“Handicraft workshops, shopping malls, and supermarkets will also be obliged to rationalise the use of air conditioners and cut working hours.”
Shaker said that “a number of government offices and departments nationwide have already begun seeking alternative power-saving sources, particularly solar power which will be used on a mass scale in the coming years.”
Minister of Housing Assem Al-Gazzar said that “the awareness campaigns and electricity rationing plans will be launched under the slogan of ‘Be Positive,’ meaning that people are urged to take the initiative when cutting the use of electricity.”
But Shaker said that the plan aims at rationalisation, which does not mean cutting power generation. “There is a difference between rationing electricity and cutting power generation, as the rationalisation plan primarily depends on initiatives taken by citizens themselves in response to campaigns urging them to rationalise the use of electricity,” he said.
Madbouli said the government was looking into replacing the natural gas used in power stations to produce electricity with mazut and diesel fuel. “As much as 60 per cent of natural gas production is used in electricity generation, and we want to cut this to be redirected to export purposes to generate roughly $450 million per month, or $4.5 billion per year,” he said.
“The provincial governors will play the main role in implementing the power-saving plan. It is their responsibility to make the plan be followed by all, particularly shopping malls which use central air-conditioning systems.”
“Malls and sporting facilities and clubs will be required to set their air conditioners at 25 degrees Celsius in their buildings,” he said.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 25 August, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
Short link: