At a meeting on Tuesday to review recent power cuts and discuss the high rates of electricity consumption anticipated during the coming month of Ramadan, Electricity Minister Hassan Younis announced that his ministry was currently facing a "state of emergency."
The minster also ordered the temporary operation of two extra power stations to meet projected surges in consumption.
At the meeting, Younis stressed the need to maintain the stability of the national electricity grid and follow the most up-to-date maintenance techniques in order to prevent sudden breakdowns.
He went on to say that power cuts in certain governorates on Tuesday had been due to an unexpected breakdown in the Samalut-Cairo electricity line, noting that he had already requested a full report on the cause of the malfunction.
“Power cuts occur all over the world as a result of adverse climatic conditions,” he said, pointing out that, even in the US, electricity was often subject to temporary cuts as a result of storms and other adverse weather conditions.
The minister urged the citizenry to reduce consumption as much as possible.
“This year has witnessed a major spike in electricity consumption due to increased usage of air conditioners in tandem with rising temperatures,” he said.
Ministry spokesman Aktham Abul Ela, for his part, noted that power stations tended to lose more than 10 percent of their total capacity when temperatures reached 40 degrees centigrade.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
