Egyptian electricity authorities have increased the length of load shedding, as the worsening heatwave crimps the ability to supply natural gas to power plants.

The control centre at the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) informed the electricity distribution companies that load shedding times would increase from two hours per day that have been in frame since the week of June 3, 2024, to three hours per day, beginning from June 23, 2024.

The power cuts run anytime between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., “or until other instructions are received”, the EEHC declared in a press release.

Egypt is one of Africa’s largest electricity generating jurisdictions. The constraint with power generation limits the country to 35,000MW, the influential news outlet, Masrawy reported over the last weekend.

The heatwave increases demand for power on the one hand and also “affects the quantities of natural gas pumped necessary to operate the power stations”, Masrawy  noted.

Added to this challenge is the decreasing production of natural gas in the country’s hydrocarbon reservoirs.

Gas output has declined by 28% to 5.2Billion standard cubic feet per day as of mid April 2024, compared with the highest output on record: the 7.19Bscf/d attained in September 2021.

The Egyptian government has also been cutting gas supplies to fertilizer companies in rder to feed power plants.