Cleaning fees to remain added on electricity bills for 1 year: Min.

CAIRO – 9 June 2020: "Electricity distribution companies will continue to collect cleaning fees on the monthly electricity consumption bill for another year, until a new mechanism is found to collect these fees," Minister of Electricity Mohamed Shaker stated Tuesday during a press conference.

During the conference, Shaker announced that whoever consumes more than 650 kilowatts per month will be excluded from subsidies and will bear the actual cost of the kilowatt per hour.

Shaker said during a press conference to announce the new prices for electricity strips that the rate of the new increase for the domestic sector will be 19.1 percent, down from 21 percent in 2019/2020.

He affirmed that the state will bear LE 22 billion to support the industrial sector during the next 5 years after fixing the electricity price for the industrial sector for the next 5 years.

He pointed out that President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi directed the extension of the plan to lift subsidies for another 3 years.

Shaker clarified that the plan to rationalize electricity subsidies began in the year 2015 and was planned to end in July 2019 to fully liberalize the prices of subsidies and to hold citizens accountable for the cost of kilowatts. With the rise in the price of the dollar during 2017, President Sisi directed the extension of the subsidies lifting plan to 8 years instead of 5 years, to alleviate the burden on citizens.

“The ministry has already developed a new plan extending the process of lifting subsidies until July 2021,” he noted.

The minister pointed out that all readings are photographed and saved, noting that he follows all the complaints of citizens himself.

Shaker said that by the end of 2020, the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company will have finished adding 6,000 km of the new transmission lines to raise the efficiency of the network and eliminate interruptions caused by the voltage drop.