Here’s why Egypt’s electricity prices are rising

The price of electricity bands will increase by 20 percent, and a gradual increase will be announced to lift the subsidy on electricity by 2030, according to remarks by a Ministry of Electricity source to Al-Masry Al-Youm on Saturday.

The Electricity Ministry is expected to announce the prices of the new electricity bands in the coming days before the the end of July, following the Cabinet’s approval.

The main reason for the rising costs of electricity production is due to an increase in the price of the dollar against the pound.

The source stressed that all electricity bands will witness varying rises due to the significant increase in the cost of electricity production recently.

The average sale of a kilowatt of electricity is 126 piasters, he said, while it currently costs the state 223 piasters due to the rise in global fuel prices.

According to the source, the prices that were announced in January were back when the US dollar exchange rate was at LE 30.9, whereas it is now at LE 45.