(AFP Photo / Mohamed Abed )
The Egyptian Electric Utility and Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency will soon create a new blackout warning campaign for citizens, based on the traditional traffic light system, to give updated alerts of the demand on electricity networks, and raise consumers’ role in saving energy to avoid blackouts.
Hafez Suleimawi, Executive Director of the agency, stated that the campaign would be released via Egyptian satellite channels, with the colors of a traffic light pulsating on news feeds scrolling on the bottom of television screens.
The news feed will include three colors, with red indicating an impending blackout, green affirming that pressure on the network is manageable, and orange warning of any temporary measure by the agency aimed at reducing consumption rates. Suleimawi thanked Egypt’s citizens in advance for their cooperation with the project.
This campaign comes as part of a new television and radio awareness programme to decrease Egypt’s electricity consumption, coming alongside plans to distribute to the country’s nine electric companies upwards of one million light bulbs at reduced prices for a period of 18 months. The minister of endowments is set to soon release a series of directives to Egypt’s imams as part of an awareness campaign to decrease electricity consumption throughout the country’s mosques, in addition to that of sports clubs and youth centres.
Governorates throughout the country have been hit with frequent power cuts since the revolution, especially during summer seasons in which demand on electricity grids intensifies, as the country continues to suffer from constraints in the supply of fuel.
