While this summer has fared much better than last year in regards to the power cuts that have been affecting the country, in spite of the amount of energy saved, due to the curfew imposed since mid-August, blackouts occurred in Cairo and other governorates last week, with the power going off for hours several times a day in many parts of the country. The power cuts were more evident in the governorates, with outages in the Dakahliya governorate lasting for up to 12 hours and in Kafr Al-Sheikh extending to nine hours. Power outages in Cairo varied from one district to another. Downtown Cairo and Heliopolis have seen recurrent power cuts ranging from two to four hours, while other neighbourhoods such as Dokki and Mohandiseen have witnessed shorter outages. The blackouts, imposed in order to ease the pressure on the electrical grid, have caused damage and hampered production in various sectors across the country. “The outages stopped the fridges from working and spoiled large quantities of meat, with losses running into thousands of pounds,” said the owner of a butcher's shop in the Sayeda Zeinab district of Cairo. Similar damage has taken place at shops selling frozen poultry, patisseries and dairy shops. In the Damietta governorate, where small furniture workshops mainly work at night, the power outages have hampered production, enraging inhabitants and triggering calls to stage demonstrations and sit-ins in protest. Households have been also affected. Doaa Adel, a housewife, said that the recent electricity outages had led to her losing a lot of food as a result of a stopped fridge and the high temperatures. Adel and many other householders and shops had resorted to using electrical generators at times when the power was working, putting even greater demand on the electrical grid. Though the outages began to ease starting this week, they have continued to grip some parts of the country. Minister of Electricity Ahmed Imam described the recent power outages as a “setback”, ascribing them to the increase in temperatures, a lack of fuel supplied to power stations, and the fact that some electricity units were out of service due to maintenance. However, he said earlier this week that the crisis would ease during the coming days, though he called on the public to ration electricity consumption in order to avoid further blackouts. Egypt's power stations are run on fuel such as natural gas and fuel oil (mazut). Akhtam Abu Al-Ela, a spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, said that the national power grid had been overloaded last week as a result of the increase in temperatures. He said that in such cases, power stations tended to consume more fuel than usual, with the increases amounting to around 10 per cent. “Due to limited resources, it's not easy for the Ministry of Petroleum to provide the power stations with more fuel,” he told Al-Ahram Weekly. Abu Al-Ela said that the Ministry of Petroleum typically provided the country's power stations with 110 million cubic feet of natural gas on a daily basis. The Ministry of Petroleum has been suffering from supply problems recently, with an anonymous source at the ministry being quoted in the Al-Shorouk newspaper as saying that foreign oil companies operating in Egypt had decided to reduce the amount of fuel directed to the local market in order to fulfil their export commitments. This comes in the light of the stalled negotiations between Egypt and Qatar over liquefied natural gas (LNG) swap cargoes. Qatar has delivered five free LNG cargoes to Egypt, which however went entirely to GDF Suez and the BG Group, two foreign companies working in gas exploration in Egypt, as compensation for their declining exports. According to the deal negotiated in May, Egypt will buy the shares of the two foreign companies in locally extracted LNG. The foreign companies will then take the LNG being imported from Qatar in compensation. The five gift cargoes are part of a larger deal that should see Qatar supplying 18-24 cargoes to firms such as BG Group and GDF Suez over the next year or more. But the number of cargoes under discussion has declined to 13, and differences have occurred over the price. The solution, according to Abu Al-Ela, is that Egypt should start importing natural gas so as to meet the local demand. However, while Egypt can currently export LNG, it cannot import it because it does not have the needed infrastructure, he said. Egypt produces 5.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day. The government exports some 100 million cubic feet to Jordan on a daily basis, while foreign companies export around 400 million cubic feet. The rest is directed to the local market. About 70 per cent of Egypt's total natural gas production goes to the electricity sector, which consumes over four billion cubic feet of natural gas daily. Abu Al-Ela added that 2,800 megawatts (MW) would be added to the national grid's 31,000 MW capacity in the coming weeks through the coming on line of three new power plants. The coming week should see the operation of the Banha power plant, which would add some 760 MW, and this would be followed by the Giza plant and the Ain Al-Sokhna plant, which would add 1,300 MW at a total investment cost of LE9.6 billion. The three plants will start operating well after their original schedule, with Abu Al-Ela attributing the delay to the unstable security conditions in Egypt which had hampered the completion of the projects. As a result of the new additions to the grid, along with securing the needed fuel and rationing electricity consumption, Egypt should not see any further blackouts, Abu Al-Ela said. He said that the outages had begun to ease this week and that the problem would end with the lower temperatures and a more consistent supply of natural gas and fuel to power stations. The vice president of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company said this week that the company had reduced its gas supply to the industrial sector by 10 per cent since Wednesday of last week in order to provide it to power stations. Unlike in many other countries, households in Egypt consume more electricity than industry. Households comprise 42 per cent of total electricity consumption, while industry consumes 32 per cent. Last May, two months before former president Mohamed Morsi was ousted, a wave of power cuts hit the country, causing huge financial losses to factories and shops. Over the past two years, Egyptians have got a sour taste of what life could be like without electricity, due to the recurring power cuts, especially in summer when consumption peaks.
