Egypt is raising electricity prices for households by up to 50% as part of its plan to phase out subsidies, according to Reuters.
This is part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to gradually reduce government support for energy.
The new price increase took effect on Saturday for prepaid meters and will apply to regular meters starting October 1.
The price hikes range from 14.45% to 50%, a source at the electricity ministry told Reuters.
Initially, the increases were supposed to happen earlier in the summer but were delayed due to widespread power shortages caused by high demand for cooling during the hot weather.
To manage the situation, Egypt resorted to load-shedding, and the government said it needed to import around $1.18 billion worth of fuel to stabilize the grid.
Egypt generates most of its electricity from natural gas, and the petroleum ministry confirmed that the country had received five shipments of liquefied natural gas out of the 21 it contracted.
Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly later announced that power cuts would be over for the rest of the summer.
Egypt has been under pressure to cut energy subsidies as part of an IMF agreement to extend its loan program to $8 billion.
However, the government had delayed price increases several times in recent years due to economic difficulties, Reuters reports.