The Egyptian Ministry of Electricity allocated EGP 11b for operating power plant and running maintenance on production power plants as well as distribution network within the fiscal year 2016/2017, reported Al Borsa.

Governmental officials stated that the amounts spent on the process come from collecting electricity consumption bills. Thus, the ministry has secured EGP 7b. Accordingly, it is working on receiving the remaining EGP 4b from the government in order to ensure electricity flows without disruptions. However, the EGP 11b allocated for the operating and maintenance work does not include the fuel bills.

The officials added that the ministry has late dues from governmental sides since December 2016. These dues are estimated  at EGP 80b. This comes as the Ministry of Electricity should pay EGP 65b dues to the Ministry of Petroleum for fuel used to power electricity generation. Thus, a committee has been formed specially to resolve any payment issues with other ministries.

The ministry’s Distribution Companies Affairs Manager, Al Hossieny Al Far, stated that the total annual cost of the maintenance of networks, transformer stations, and cables in all the companies during 2016/2017 will reach EGP 1.25b after the USD exchange rate increase.