Hommam Al Nassim 
An official source at the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company revealed on Sunday that the duration of the daily power cut, or what the government calls “load shedding,” has been increased to three hours instead of two hours.
Load reduction hours will be between two in the afternoon and eight in the evening, local time, or until further instructions are received.
The source confirmed in exclusive statements to the Egyptian newspaper “Al-Shorouk” that the increase in the mitigation period to three hours came as a result of the severe heat wave that the country is suffering from during the current period, which affected the quantities of natural gas pumped necessary to operate the power stations, which reached only 13 million cubic meters, while To operate electricity generation stations, 25 million cubic meters of gas are required per day.
The source indicated that there is coordination with the Ministry of Education to avoid reducing the burden on the areas currently witnessing the holding of high school exams, which is the official government certificate that qualifies for universities in Egypt.
The source stated that there are instructions to maintain the quality and stability of the electrical supply to the various examination committees to which hundreds of thousands of students apply.
According to Al-Masry Al-Youm, officials from the Ministry of Electricity called on citizens to work to rationalize consumption, especially of air conditioners and refrigerators.
However, the Ministries of Electricity and Petroleum said later, on Sunday, that due to the increase in local electricity consumption rates as a result of the extremely high heat wave, and thus the increase in energy-generating gas consumption, the period of load shedding on Sunday and Monday will be increased for an additional hour.
The two ministries considered that this measure comes with the aim of maintaining the operational efficiency of electricity production plants and the national natural gas network.
Supplies of natural gas, which helps Egypt generate electricity, have declined at a time when demand for electricity has risen due to population growth, while the government has heavily subsidized energy prices for years.
Egypt began cutting off electricity for an hour a day last summer and increased the period to two hours at the beginning of this summer.
Cairo has been seeking to reduce the support bill since signing a financial support package with the International Monetary Fund worth eight billion dollars in March.
The government raised the prices of a wide range of fuels in March and quadrupled the price of subsidized bread on June 1.
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