Egyptians voice growing discontent as blackouts persist in an unforgiving heat wave

As an unforgiving heat wave hit Egypt for the second consecutive week, with temperatures ranging from 40 - 50 degrees Celsius,  electrical overloads have now added to Egyptian woes, in addition to daily power cuts and growing frustration over the government's performance.

Over the past two weeks, blackouts have occurred more than once a day, especially in the south where temperature recorded the highest degrees, and last for a minimum of one hour to a few hours, depending on the location and infrastructure.

Egyptian social media users quickly reacted to the dire situation with sarcasm. For his part, business tycoon Naguib Sawiris mockingly tweeted: "When Edison - the inventor of electricity – died in 1931, the whole world turned off lights for a minute to honour him. Egypt and Lebanon still honour the man every day."

عندما توفى اديسون مخترع الكهرباء عام1931م تم اطفاء جميع كهرباء العالم لمدة دقيقة تكريما له
وما زالت مصر و لبنان تكرم الرجل كل يوم ..😊

— Naguib Sawiris (@NaguibSawiris) July 21, 2023

Other users deployed memes and decade-old video segments about the power and petroleum shortages being among the reasons behind the public anger against the regime of Egypt's first democratically elected president, the late Mohamed Morsi, who was overthrown in July 2013 by the then-defence minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Experts, meanwhile, questioned President Sisi's ability to contain the situation, especially since he has not yet given any statements to reassure the public.

"The crisis of electricity Egypt has been undergoing recently is not in favour of president Sisi's popularity, which has already been compromised for several other reasons, on top of which are the economic crisis and the human rights," a prominent political analyst told The New Arab on condition of anonymity.  

"He needs to bear in mind that the presidential election is expected later this year or in early 2024. It's very unlikely for him to lose the presidential office given that he is known for controlling the army, the interior ministry and the judiciary, overseeing the vote. But a question mark remains about his popularity," the analyst added.

Meanwhile, satellite TV shows, presented mainly by hosts loyal to the regime, have been attempting in recent days to sugarcoat the image of the government in a bid to appease the somewhat dissatisfied public, offering justifications and promises that the problem will be resolved later this week.


Earlier last week, Egyptian prime minister Mostafa Madbouly expressed during a cabinet meeting that the recent power outages in the country resulted from the rising consumption triggered by the harsh heat wave, which led the government to carry out temporary load restrictions.

Madbouly claimed that the increasing electricity demand has strained the country's natural gas network that generates the power. "We are currently implementing temporary load reductions to reduce pressure on the gas network," he said.

Since June 2015, Egypt has been "self-sufficient" and currently achieving about a 25 per cent surplus.

In August last year, the government initiated a plan to decrease local power consumption by reducing the amount of natural gas used to generate electricity to export the surplus and gain foreign currency.