The Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy has begun applying a fixed electricity consumption rate to approximately 3.6 million “code meters,” a senior ministry source told Al Manassa. The source emphasized that the ministry has no intention of reversing the decision despite growing parliamentary criticism.
According to the Unified Platform for Electricity Services, code meters are temporary units installed for those obtaining electricity illegally. They are designed to ensure accurate accounting of actual consumption until a building’s legal status is regularized under the Building Violation Reconciliation Law, at which point they are replaced by legal meters. If a building remains non-compliant and is subject to a demolition order, the meter is removed.
Earlier this month, media reports confirmed a 28% increase in electricity rates for code meters. The government fixed the price at 2.74 Egyptian pounds (about $0.05) per kilowatt-hour from the first unit of consumption, abandoning the previous tiered tariff. This sparked parliamentary demands to temporarily suspend and review the decision on legal, social, and economic grounds.
“The new pricing took effect this month and will be reflected in May invoices,” the Ministry of Electricity source said on condition of anonymity. He added that the ministry aims to achieve savings of approximately 9 billion pounds (about $170 million) during 2026 by adjusting various electricity tariffs, including code meters.
The source noted that rising production costs—driven by global hikes in fuel and gas prices—make a reversal of the decision unlikely at this time.
The government has taken several measures following fluctuations in regional energy supplies triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran in February. These include raising fuel prices, hikes in household and commercial electricity tariffs, a 21% increase in the price of gas to fertilizer plants, and early closing hours for shops, restaurants, and cafes.
Medhat Youssef, former vice president of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, noted that the ministry has expanded the installation of mechanical and electronic code meters in recent years to curb electricity theft and reduce waste. These meters previously followed the same progressive tariff as other subscribers.
Youssef told Al Manassa that abolishing the tiered tariff is “unjustified.” He called for code meter users to be billed under the same system as other citizens to ensure social justice, noting that these meters have been installed within a regulatory framework in coordination with electricity companies since 2011.
4 million non-compliant units
A source familiar with the building violations file at the Ministry of Housing stated that the number of recorded non-compliant units is approaching 4 million.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al Manassa that the geographical distribution of violations is concentrated in rural areas, where the rate is nearly double that of urban centers. The most prominent violations include adding unauthorized floors, changing the designated use from residential to commercial, building on agricultural land, and deviating from approved engineering blueprints.
“There are many non-compliant units whose data has not yet been registered with the government, which is the main reason the reconciliation periods have been extended multiple times,” the source said.
The original law to reconcile building violations and regularize their status was issued in 2019, following nearly four years of drafting legislation that impacts a vast cross-section of property owners. While the law was amended in 2020, administrative hurdles and inconsistent enforcement by local authorities remained significant barriers.
Throughout this period, members of parliament played a pivotal role in highlighting these failures, repeatedly demanding legislative intervention to strip away the bureaucratic complexities that prevented citizens from formalizing their assets.
In response to this parliamentary pressure, the government introduced Law No. 187 of 2023, which was ratified by parliament in late 2023 to provide a more flexible and comprehensive framework. Despite this updated legislation, the transition to effective implementation has been slow, prompting lawmakers to maintain steady pressure on the executive branch.
This ongoing advocacy has been instrumental in the government’s decision to grant multiple extensions to the reconciliation deadline—most recently through November 2026—as parliament continues to push for a final resolution to the millions of pending cases.
