However, these measures are not being felt equally across the country.

In the southern city of Aswan, where temperatures in the shade approached 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this month, “the lights are out for up to four hours a day, and the water with them,” said Tarek, a resident of western Aswan.

“Especially in the villages, there is no schedule. Food spoils in the fridge, people get heatstroke and no one seems to care,” he said, requesting a pseudonym for fear of reprisal.

In June, Aswan MP Riham Abdelnaby reported that dozens of people had died from heat-related illnesses.

She called for the southern province to be cut off from electricity supplies, which she said “threatens the lives of citizens.”

After three heatwaves in June, power cuts were becoming longer and more frequent, and with them, nationwide frustration, including from talk show hosts who staunchly supported the government.

“Electricity is not a luxury, it is the most basic right,” renowned journalist Lamis al-Hadidy wrote on social media site X on Monday.

“The power cut deprives people of water, telephones and internet and destroys electrical appliances. Who will compensate people for all this?”

Egypt faced similar power outages a decade ago, fueling public discontent and protests against the short-lived presidency of the late Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi.

Today’s power outages come as Egyptians face the worst economic crisis of their lives, as inflation and currency devaluation wipe out savings and families struggle to make ends meet.

Since 2022, the Egyptian pound has lost two-thirds of its value, and last year inflation reached a record 40%.

Amr Adib, host of the popular program Al-Hekaya talk show host, addressed officials directly on Sunday, saying they “didn’t get the schedule right and didn’t keep the hours they promised. And all this while we know that electricity price hikes are coming.”

Electricity prices last rose in January, and the government has signaled it intends to raise them again this year.

This week, as temperatures in Cairo hovered around 40 degrees Celsius, some areas of the capital experienced additional midnight power outages lasting up to two hours – on top of the existing midday power outages.

On Tuesday, as public outrage peaked, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly held a press conference during which he “apologized to the government to the people” and said Egyptians should expect continued three-hour power outages this week.

He said the increased power outages were caused by a “gas field in a neighboring country” that supplies natural gas to Egypt that “went offline for more than 12 hours.” He did not name the country.

The prime minister also said Egypt would spend $1.2 billion in July, or 2.6 percent of the crisis-hit country’s precious foreign reserves, to bolster fuel supplies.

“We will be able to completely eliminate summer blackouts in the third week of July,” Madbouly said, signaling that blackouts will return in the fall.

The government remains committed to implementing its plan to completely eliminate power outages by the end of the year, he added.

In his apology, Madbouly said his government was “fully aware” of “how difficult the power outages are for citizens,” including “elderly people, people with health problems or other humanitarian reasons.”

However, as a result of these actions, many people have already died across the country.

Although there is no official data on the number of heat-related deaths in Aswan, parliamentarian Abdelnaby told local media that “around 40 heat-related deaths” were recorded over a four-day period in June.

Across the country, in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, a musician named Mohammed Ali Nasr died in early June after falling into an elevator shaft where he became stuck during a power outage, his brother told local station Al-Nahar.

Across Egypt, people have begun planning their lives around official schedules to avoid getting stuck in elevators. But at least four people have died in similar incidents since last year, according to local media.