Egypt will leave its lowest power rate untouched, but most homes will pay more starting this month.
The Electricity and Renewable Energy Ministry announced on Friday, July 31, that it approved a new tariff structure. The first consumption bracket stays the same. All other residential users will see an average increase of about 12%.
The ministry said the adjustment is needed “to ensure the stability of power supply and the financial sustainability” of generation, transmission and distribution networks.
Why the increase now
Egypt still spends around 100 billion Egyptian pounds, about $1.9 billion, each year to cover the gap between what it costs to produce electricity and what consumers pay. As household use rises, the state’s share of that subsidy shrinks.
Officials also pointed to recent pressure on fuel supplies. An unclaimed drone attack damaged one of Egypt’s four Floating Storage Regasification Units. With that FSRU offline, the government had to switch to more expensive fuel oil just as summer demand peaked at 37 to 39 GW.
This is the second hike this year. In April, Egypt raised rates for higher-use homes and commercial users by 16% to 20%, blaming a global energy crunch linked to conflict in the Gulf that more than doubled import costs.
How the bills change
The subsidy level now depends on how much you use each month:
- Up to 50 kWh: customers pay about 25% of the bill. This bracket is unchanged.
- Around 300 kWh: about 50% of the cost
- 500 to 600 kWh: about 60% of the cost
- 700 to 1,000 kWh: about 88% of the cost
- 2,000 kWh and above: no subsidy, full cost
At $0.02 per Egyptian pound, the gap is still large, and the government is gradually shifting more of it to households that use more power.
