CAIRO: The new prices for electricity and natural gas will be included in August’s bill (for July consumption) for energy-intensive industries, reported Al-Alam Al-Youm.
Industries including iron, cement, fertilizers, glass, ceramics, aluminum, copper and petrochemical will have to abide by the new pricing structure.
On June 30, Prime Ministerial Decree No. 1795 (2008) identified energy-intensive industries as those using over 50 million KW/Hr of electricity or 66 million cubic meters of gas annually.
Industries for food processing, engineering, ready-made garments and pharmaceuticals will also be subject to the higher pricing.
According to reports, producers in the glass, plastics and textiles industries were miffed about what they described as the sudden implementation of the new prices, saying they should be allowed to fulfill their existing export contracts before being charged higher prices.
Many were wary of the effect the increased prices would have on inflation, especially with the upcoming month of Ramadan.
The price of natural gas will be raised to $3/mBTU, up from $1.7/mBTU, for energy-intensive industries mentioned above, using the gas as fuel.
Electricity prices will rise to LE 0.202/KWHr for very high voltage, LE 0.245/KWHr for high voltage and LE 0.334/KWHr for medium voltage use.
The higher energy prices were part of a package of fiscal measures announced on May 5th to finance an increase in spending on wages and subsidies and restructure energy subsidies in general.
The higher prices for energy-intensive industries were also part of a plan commenced in September 2007 by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to raise energy prices for the industrial sector to levels closer to the actual cost.
