Complaints have multiplied in Egypt over scattered power outages in some areas, especially those with high population densities, coinciding with a severe heatwave across the country, testing repeated government promises not to resort to the 'load shedding' plan that was previously implemented in past years.

Residents in several governorates, most notably the capital Cairo, Giza, and the Red Sea (east), complained of power outages in recent days. Social media platforms saw interaction from some of those affected by the outages, demanding that the reasons for their continuation for long hours at different intervals be announced.

5 hours at night

Mohamed Sayed, who lives in the working-class Faisal area in Giza Governorate, stated in a post on his Facebook page that the power went out widely in the area for 5 hours at night, and that officials gave different justifications—some confirming it was part of a 'load shedding plan' and others denying it, pointing to a fault in the main electricity grid in the area.

Local newspapers reported a complaint issued by workers in the tourism sector in the city of Hurghada, Red Sea Governorate, a prominent tourist destination in Egypt, indicating that outages are recurring almost daily without an official announcement explaining the reasons for the outage or the expected duration for service restoration.

Urgent Statement

Faisal Abu Arida, a member of the House of Representatives from the 'Homeland Protectors' Party, submitted an urgent statement on Wednesday addressed to both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, regarding the severe fluctuation crisis in the power supply that the city of Al-Saf, one of the cities in Giza Governorate, is experiencing.

Abu Arida described the repeated voltage fluctuations as 'gross negligence threatening the lives and property of citizens,' calling for swift intervention to take urgent measures ensuring stability of the power supply and protecting citizens from damages resulting from this crisis.

The Egyptian government has repeatedly denied its inclination to implement a load shedding plan or return to scheduled power outages, affirming that the national grid is operating stably, and that outages in some areas are due to emergency technical faults caused by the sharp rise in loads and temperatures, and are being dealt with and repaired immediately.

Lack of Coordination

Ihab Mansour, a member of the House of Representatives from the 'Egyptian Democratic Party,' attributed the frequent outages to several factors, most notably the lack of coordination between local administrations and ministries regarding road and utility development projects in different areas, resulting in repeated faults in electrical cables or water pipes.

He explained in a statement to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that most areas experiencing outages suffer from infrastructure problems, unlike new cities, which reflects on power grids that require continuous maintenance work, adding: 'Negligence causes a decline in network performance rates, especially during peak periods when electrical loads increase, as they are subject to continuous faults.'

However, he stressed at the same time that the Egyptian government remains committed to its previous pledges not to resort to the 'load shedding' plan during the summer months, and that reliance is on that continuing until the end of the peak months.

Egyptian Minister of Electricity Follows Up on Stability of National Grid (Egyptian Ministry of Electricity)

Local newspapers quoted sources at the Ministry of Electricity as saying that the scattered power outages are due to sudden technical faults in some components of distribution networks, as a result of high loads and rising temperatures, and that the concerned electricity distribution companies dispatched emergency and maintenance teams immediately upon receiving reports, gradually restoring power to areas where repairs were completed.

The Ministry of Electricity had announced at the beginning of this month 'raising the state of readiness to the maximum level in all electricity distribution companies, with intensified preventive maintenance work, and dispatching emergency and rapid intervention teams to ensure swift handling of any emergency faults and continuity of electricity supply, especially during evening peak periods.'

The Egyptian Meteorological Authority announced on Wednesday the continued rise in temperatures until next Monday, noting that Wednesday and Thursday will see the peak of the heatwave, with temperatures ranging between 33 and 35 degrees Celsius on the northern coasts, between 38 and 39 degrees in Greater Cairo and the Nile Delta, while southern governorates record between 40 and 43 degrees Celsius.

The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity said on Wednesday that the Unified National Electricity Grid recorded its highest load rates since the beginning of this year, with the maximum load reaching 39,000 megawatts on Tuesday evening, an increase of 2,000 megawatts compared to the same period last year, amid the significant rise in temperatures and increased electricity consumption rates during the summer season.