Egypt's Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker revealed the new electricity prices, with an average increase of 14.9% to be implemented starting from next fiscal year (FY) during a press conference on Tuesday. The increase in the value of the electricity bill starts from EGP 4-93.5 depending on consumption. According to Shaker, the first category in terms of consumption, from 0 to 50 kW's new price is EGP 0.30; from 51 to 100 kW it is EGP 0.4; from 101 to 200 kW it is EGP 0.5,; from 201 to 350 kW it is 0.82; from 351 to 650 kW it is EGP 1; from 651 to 1,000 kW it is EGP 1.4, and the seventh bracket of more than 1,000 kW it is EGP 1.45 instead of EGP 1.35. Furthermore, the ministry revealed that the consumption category between 101-200 kW has the highest number of electricity subscribers, with 9.5 million users, or around 36% of the total users, followed by the 201-350 with 6.8 million users, or 25.7%. Shaker explained that the Ministry of Finance is still supporting the electricity sector by EGP 16.5bn billion during the fiscal year 2019/20, and that the result of the price increase of will be EGP 17bn. The minister told Daily News Egypt that Shaker the prices remained low compared to neighbouring countries for ultra-high, high and medium-level voltage. He explained that the factories bear a higher cost to support household uses and not to burden the citizens, adding that " There is no other solution, there must be mutual subsidies" He explained that the average price of the sale of electricity 96.1 piasters, and the average cost on the low voltage 114.2 piasters per kilowatt hour, did not increase the bill for electricity consumption of more than 1000 KW/h. On the other hand, the tariff for ultra-high-voltage (UHV) consumers in FY 2019/20 will be EGP 1.09 per kW, increasing by 10%; EGP 1.17 per kW for high-voltage increasing by 9.1%; EGP 1.23 per kW for medium-voltage increasing 9.9%, and EGP 0.83 per kW for (LV) low-voltage increasing by 19%. The tariff for the current FY was EGP 0.99 per kW for UHV consumers; EGP 1.08 per kW for high-voltage; EGP 1.12 per kW or medium-voltage, and EGP 0.71 per kW for LV. LV consumers use medium, high, and ultra-high-voltage networks so its tariff is higher. The new tariff was based on the dollar exchange rate between EGP 17.5-17.78 and a natural gas price of $3 per million thermal units, and in the event of a decline in the dollar rate, prices will be revised. He said that the cost of natural gas on the state is more than $4.5 per million thermal units, and bought by power plants at $3. The fuel received by the electricity sector reached EGP 80bn, including EGP 66bn for gas so if the price paid is not real, a gap of EGP 37bn will be created. The minister revealed that household consumption makes up around 42.1% of Egypt's total electricity consumption, while industrial uses stand at around 27.9%. Consumers of over 1,000 kW will pay more to subsidise low-income citizens.
