CAIRO, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy announced late Saturday price hikes for commercial and residential electricity consumption effective this April, citing the global energy crisis triggered by the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
In a statement, the ministry said that the current "acute and unprecedented global crisis" across all energy resources, caused by the ongoing war in the Gulf region, has necessitated price increases for certain commercial and residential consumption tiers starting this month.
According to the statement, commercial consumption prices across various brackets will rise by an average of approximately 20 percent.
For residential consumption, prices for tiers consuming 2,000 kWh per month and above have been raised by an average of 16 percent, while rates for all tiers below the 2,000 kWh threshold will remain unchanged.
This decision followed a series of measures taken by the Egyptian government in response to the global energy situation.
Austerity measures announced in late March included activating remote work systems, slowing the implementation of fuel-intensive mega-projects, and cutting fuel allocations for all government vehicles by 30 percent.
Additional measures included cutting business hours for shops, restaurants, cafes and malls as well as reducing street lighting and billboard illumination by one-third. ■
