Ministry announces 10 day electricity shortage

The Ministry of Electricity stated that maintenance in a new gas field in the Western desert will affect the supply of fuel to power stations for ten days starting Thursday. The ministry called upon citizens to ration their consumption during daily peak time, which is from 6-10 pm.

Following a meeting between officials from the ministries of electricity and petroleum, a statement issued by the former said that the maintenance aims at raising the capacity of the gas field and increasing its production. According to the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm, the field will be out of order from April 17 to 27. The statement added that the national production of natural gas may decrease by 5 percent during the repair work.

Sources at the National Center for Electricity said that citizens may start feeling the shortage by next Sunday. Indicators have shown that, compared to the previous year, there has a 4 percent increase in total electricity consumption.

Abdel Rahman Abdel Moneim, head of the energy saving administration at the electricity company, said on Thursday that the domestic sector consumes 52 percent of the total electricity available in Egypt. State-owned Ahram Gate added that the industrial sector uses 32 percent, while street lights alone make up for 8 percent of total electricity consumption.