CAIRO - Frequent electricity outage, which is expected according to official statements to increase in summer, has made high demand on electric generators. The cuts of the electric current, almost on a daily basis across the country, have had an adverse effect particularly on different businesses like clinics, stores, laundries whose activities rely on the availability of a steady electric current. Khaled Shams, a dentist resorted to buying a Chinese-made generator which cost him LE 3,000 to spare himself “embarrassing situations with patients," as he told this paper. Clustered shops on Gomhuria Street in downtown Cairo are today witnessing a business boom prompted by citizens' fear of having to put up with long hours of dark and simmering heat. Peter, an owner of a shop that basically sells water pumps, says that he has shifted of late to electric generators, as they have proved more lucrative. According to Peter the best kind of generators are Japanese whereas Chinese brands are cheaper but less efficient. “Clients usually complain that Chinese ones need constant repair and therefore last for a few months only." Peter told Al-Akhbar Arabic daily that a six-kilowatt generator now sells at LE 6,500 up from LE 5,000 last month, the difference attributable to the high dollar exchange rate against the local currency. Ahmed Mahmoud, a hairdresser, had to provide his salon with an electric generator as the short electrical supply has already caused him to lose several customers. He said that he could not sustain the financial loss incurred in having to halt work for a few hours every week. The salon being his only source of income, Mahmoud was ready to dispense with a few thousand pounds to keep his business going uninterrupted. Sales charts show that generators with a capacity ranging between 6 to l0 kilowatts are quite suitable for domestic and commercial purposes. As for hospitals and huge stores, shop owners offer generators of massive power starting from 20 kilowatt which are sold at around LE 35,000, one shop assistant told the paper. Because such prices are not affordable to a large sector of the public, the local market is also brimming these days with torches and rechargeable light devices of different sizes and shapes not to mention candles, which do the job for millions living on low income. Despite repeated statements by the Minister of Power regarding a forthcoming dark summer, the official spokesman of the ministry affirmed that the expansive plan is being implemented to add some 2800 megawatts to support the electricity grid. Yet he hoped the public would co-operate by rationalising consumption in order to alleviate pressure. However, the spread of diesel-operated generators has prompted ecologists to warn against an increasing rate of pollution with their exhaust emissions and the loud noise and vibrations they create. Moustafa Tolba, an environmental expert of world acclaim, has drawn attention to the fact that with the fuel shortage, high consumption of diesel for generators would drain reserves and further compound the situation.
