The government’s latest energy-saving measures are casting a shadow over life in Egypt, with early shop closures cutting sales and leaving streets in darkness. The plan is meant to reduce electricity demand and save natural gas following the fallout from soaring global energy prices, but it is already bringing economic and social costs.
Tuesday marked the fourth day of the government’s order requiring shops, malls, and restaurants to close at 9 pm, except on Thursdays and Fridays when they may stay open until 10 pm. Officials say the move is part of a broader push to curb electricity consumption.
Shops hit by falling sales
Sales at businesses affected by the earlier closing time had fallen by 15 - 20% over Saturday and Sunday, depending on the type of business, a member of the board of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce told Al Manassa.
He said the impact varies by sector. Clothing stores, for example, depend heavily on evening trade, unlike auto parts shops or plumbing supply stores, which do more business during the day.
Traders had tried opening earlier to offset the lost evening hours, the source added, but that had done little to help because shoppers are not used to buying in the morning.
Most traders were sticking to the closing hours because inspections had stepped up. A small number of shops and cafes were still trying to get around the rules by switching off their exterior lights and operating discreetly. “Taking that kind of risk is pointless, because the shop owner could face a fine worth several times what they would earn during closing hours, or the shop could be sealed shut entirely,” the source said.
Minister of Local Development Manal Awad instructed authorities to apply penalties to violators gradually, starting with an immediate warning and a police report, followed by fines of up to 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($930), and ending with administrative closure and sealing of the premises.
Residents complain of darkness
Beyond the economic toll, the decision has also altered daily life. Eman Shaaban described what happened in Al-Labini, in Giza’s Al-Haram district, where she was surprised to find shops closed and street lighting dimmed before 9 pm. “Suddenly the street went pitch black except for a faint light in the grocery store. I paid quickly and ran home,” she said.
She said many shops, especially on side streets, had not complied with early-closing hours in the past, but that this time felt different.
The combination of shuttered shops, darkened storefronts, and sharply reduced street lighting would make her think twice before going out in the evening again, she said.
In Cairo’s Dar Al-Salam district, the scene was much the same. Shops and cafes on the usually busy Fayoum Street closed at around 9 pm, while streetlights were switched off, plunging the crowded road into near-total darkness.
Mustafa Hussein, who owns a shoe shop on the street, said he had complied reluctantly after the local authority and police made clear that strict legal measures would be taken against violators.
“This is a commercial area. Closing shops at 9 pm kills business and hurts our livelihoods,” Hussein said, wringing his hands.
He plans to open an hour earlier, at noon instead of 1 pm, but does not expect that to make up for lost sales. “At that time, people are at work or school. Who is going out shopping in the morning?” he said.
A few kilometers away, at around 11:30 pm, Hassan Mohamed, a delivery worker in his 20s, sat leaning on his parked motorcycle outside a fateer shop in Maadi after returning from a nearby delivery.
Mohamed, who has worked in home delivery for about three years, said he had not noticed much change in order volume since the decision took effect. What had changed, he said, was the look of the streets, where activity died down earlier and the lights went out except for car headlights and a few shops exempt from the closure order.
He said he had been used to working from 8 pm to 8 am, but the shop owner told him and his colleagues that hours had changed and the business would now shut at 2 am.
The delivery driver fears the measures will hurt his income, which barely covers his payments into a savings club and living expenses.
Officials project big savings, but estimates differ
The government is publicly betting on sizable savings from the plan. A source at the Ministry of Electricity said officials were targeting a reduction of about 8,000 megawatts from the 29,400 megawatts consumed daily.
The source said 3,000 megawatts would be saved by cutting consumption in ministries and other state institutions and by having employees work from home on Sundays, while another 5,000 megawatts a day would come from closing businesses and shops early.
A second source at the Ministry of Petroleum, however, estimated that the total savings would amount to only a 5% cut in overall petroleum product consumption, whether used as fuel or for electricity generation.
The source said the plan was mainly intended to prepare for the expected rise in summer demand if the “global war” drags on.
He added that Egypt consumes about 42,000 tons of diesel, around 27,000 tons of gasoline, and 6.3 billion cubic feet of gas a day on average, with gas consumption rising to 7.3 billion cubic feet in summer as air conditioner use climbs.
The source, who is familiar with the petroleum sector, said the energy-saving plan would have been more effective if it had included cuts to subsidized natural gas supplies for energy-intensive factories, for which the state covers the gap between the subsidized price and the actual cost of $21 per million British thermal units.
Last September, the government informed energy-intensive industries that the price of gas supplied to them would rise by at least $1 per million British thermal units, after previously ranging from $4.5 to $5.7.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures rose above $100 a barrel because of the war’s direct impact on energy trading.
