Power went out for about two hours in several governorates Tuesday, after high temperatures and increased consumption triggered technical faults in the national grid, a Ministry of Electricity source said.
The outages marked the first real test of the grid’s capacity to withstand summer 2026, following statements by Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister Mahmoud Esmat in March that the government did not intend to implement load-shedding or cut power during the summer.
The source told Al Manassa, asking not to be named, that several transformers and electrical circuits failed suddenly under mounting pressure on the grid, temporarily disrupting supplies before emergency and maintenance teams began gradually restoring electricity.
Electricity loads rose by about 8% this week, jumping by roughly 2,500 megawatts a day to 32,500 megawatts, up from 30,000 megawatts a day last month, due to the sudden rise in temperatures, the source said.
Maintenance crews are continuing repairs and restarting service in affected areas, while the electricity sector remains on maximum alert to ensure stable power supplies in the coming period as hot weather and high consumption continue, the source said.
The source expected electricity loads during the summer peak to rise to an average of 40,000 megawatts a day, the maximum daily consumption load projected for the period from June to September 2026.
Last July, the government announced that the national electricity grid had successfully “passed a test it had never faced in its history, setting a record for peak loads and increased consumption,” only to face broad criticism from citizens over power outages in several areas of Giza Governorate.
Hours after the public criticism at the time, Giza Governorate announced an emergency fault in an underground power cable in front of Sakiat Mekki Metro Station, which caused a service stoppage at a water station and a technical failure at the Giza El-Dahab transformer station, one of the governorate’s main stations. The electricity minister confirmed at the time he was following repair work on site.
