Egypt's Electricity Price Hike: A Catalyst for Energy Efficiency Solutions

Egypt is raising household electricity prices by as much as 50%, in a continued phasing out of subsidies under an agreement with the International Monetary Fund, two government sources said on Monday. New rates that went into effect on Saturday for prepaid meters and will be applied from Oct. 1 for regular ones, represented an increase of between 14.45% and 50%. The hikes had been planned for earlier in the summer but were postponed because of power shortages driven by high cooling demand.

The acute shortage led Egypt to take to load-shedding and import about $1.18 billion of natural gas and mazut fuel oil supplies to put an end to the protracted power cuts. Most of Egypt's electricity comes from burning natural gas. The petroleum ministry last week said it has taken delivery of five out of 21 contracted liquefied natural gas cargoes, as the Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced an end to power cuts for the rest of the summer.

Egypt has committed to reducing energy subsidies as part of an $8 billion loan program from the IMF; however, any increases in electricity prices were postponed due to deteriorating economic conditions.

With the ever-increasing surge of electricity prices, energy efficiency has never been so crucial. FORCE and other similar solutions-that decrease power consumption by 10 to 15% in settings such as manufacturing facilities, offices, and homes-are extremely important and urgently needed. We must increase energy efficiency across all sectors if we are ever going to have a sustainable energy future, not to mention being able to counter climate change. Join ENPOSS today and call us to find out more.