Power cuts have been experienced across Egypt since last week owing to shortages of fuel delivered to power stations, causing the national grid to lose more than 3,500 megawatts (MW) out of a total capacity of about 29,000 MW. The Ministry of Petroleum said that the main reason behind the power outages was a lack of the cash needed to pay for the fuel used by the power stations. In a press statement released last Thursday, the ministry said that ships carrying imported fuel had been docked in Egyptian ports for more than three weeks, but required cash payment before they could unload their cargo — not easy given the country's current economic problems. Egypt's power stations are mostly run on mazut and natural gas, and they use some 60 per cent of Egypt's total gas consumption. Mandated power cuts have been used to ease the load on the electricity network, and the absence of a stable fuel supply has led some power stations to stop working altogether, leading to shortages in the power supply. What worries many people is that the outages have started even before the summer season starts, lasting for over an hour in many areas. “Because of Egypt's current economic crisis, the government cannot provide the needed quantities of fuel for extended periods of time. It is not possible to secure fuel that will cover the needs of power stations for a month or even a week at the moment,” Hafez Al-Salmawi, head of the Egyptian Electrical Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency, said. In order to tackle the crisis, the government paid $40 million for 45,000 tonnes of mazut earlier this week, and according to the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS), an agreement has been reached to import a further 300 million cubic feet of gas and allocate it to the power stations. Aktham Abul-Ela, deputy minister of electricity and energy, told Al-Ahram Weekly that new stations would begin operating during the summer, adding 2,800 MW to the national grid. However, if these stations do not receive a stable fuel supply, there will still be gaps in power production. Abul-Ela stressed that the ministry was trying to ensure that there would not be any mandatory power cuts during the summer through upping production at power stations and preparing operations on new projects. However, consumers should realise that rationalising their energy consumption was crucial to avoid further power cuts. Al-Salmawi expected electricity shortages of between 2,000 and 2,500 MW, even with new fuel supplies secured. “These shortages will lead to daily power failures in the summer unless measures are taken,” he told the Weekly. Such measures were currently being studied and should help avoid power cuts if applied efficiently, he said. They included encouraging energy-intensive industries to carry out proper maintenance, ensuring the proper management of irrigation activities depending on electricity, and increasing the efficiency of Egypt's street lighting. Al-Salmawi said that the “voluntary reduction of electrical loads” could also be a necessary measure, explaining that consumers could be notified by television or radio that the load on the grid was heavier than its capacity and that they should turn off unnecessary lamps and electrical items. If every consumer turned off one 40-watt light, for example, about 1,000 MW would be saved immediately, he said. Another 1,200 MW could be saved if 10 per cent of air-conditioning units — the main reason behind skyrocketing household energy consumption — were turned off following notices sent to consumers. “Simple steps like these could save us the discomfort caused by power outages, but it all depends on people's responses,” Al-Salmawi said. If electricity companies are forced to opt for power cuts as a necessary way to save the national grid, he added, a prior notice service should be available to consumers by the middle of next month to let them prepare for them. “The service will at first be available to subscribers from the Cairo and Alexandria governorates, and then it will be generalised to the whole country,” he said. Abul-Ela also said that the ministry of electricity and energy had signed a deal with Cairo's Voice for Audio and Video Company to initiate a public-awareness campaign about the need to rationalise electricity consumption. The campaign, using television, would start two weeks from now, he said. “If the fuel supply is secure and consumers rationalise their energy consumption, especially at peak hours, there will not be any blackouts. If on the other hand they do not do so, we should prepare ourselves for a gloomy summer,” Al-Salmawi said.
