The country’s electricitytariff hikes have landed hard on commercial and industrial businesses — and the scramble to adapt is now determining who survives and who doesn’t. Margins that were already thin are growing thinner still, and the old playbook — slap some solar panels on the roof and call it a day — isn’t cutting it anymore. Companies aren’t trying to run fewer hours — they’re trying to build smarter electrical systems that maintain productivity while consuming less power, ABB Egypt Chairman Ahmed Hammad tells EnterpriseAM.

Energy conservation is not energy efficiency. Conservation means cutting demand — shutting down lines, switching off lights, reducing activity. Meanwhile, efficiency means using better technology — restructuring internal electrical networks, upgrading distribution panels, and replacing aging infrastructure — to produce the same output with less energy, sources tell EnterpriseAM.

How existing facilities bleed energy — and money

The losses start at the infrastructure level. Aging transformers and deteriorating cable insulation increase resistance, generating heat and voltage drops that waste electricity before it reaches productive use, Hammad and Giza Cable Industries CEO Ahmed Mohsen tells us. Egypt’s market includes an estimated EGP 3-4 bn annually in low-grade cables with copper purity dropping to 96% — raising not just energy waste, but fire and maintenance risks as well.

Rising electricity prices are pushing major investors to prioritize lifecycle costs, voltage efficiency, and energy performance rather than simply choosing the lowest-cost supplier, Mohsen says. Any capex savings from lower-grade cables evaporate quickly in facilities running around the clock, he adds.

Quick fixes vs. real engineering

Some startups are promoting devices they claim can slash electricity consumption by 40-50% — figures industry executives say don’t hold up to scrutiny. Many rely on a sleight of hand by reducing reactive power — the overhead that keeps electrical fields running without doing productive work. It looks good on paper, but it doesn’t touch actual energy consumption. Active power — what actually runs your machines — is where real savings live, and those require upgraded load management systems and power factor improvements, not “miracle” technologies, Mohsen argues.

The shift is already visible in order books, and demand is no longer concentrated in new developments. At ABB Egypt, upgrade and rehabilitation work now accounts for 25-35% of annual business volume. Realistic first-year savings from smart panel upgrades, power factor improvements, and integrated system management generally land between 18-20%, Hammad says.

The broader market is also absorbing volatile copper prices and regional supply disruptions. Major cable manufacturers are raising local content to 40-90% by converting raw copper into finished products, according to Elsewedy Cables General Manager Amr El Sawaf and Mohsen.

Meanwhile, energy efficiency is becoming a central design consideration in real estate, with developers selecting cables and materials based on resistance, insulation quality, and transmission efficiency, Living Yards CEO Abdallah Lotfy tells us. Clients are increasingly linking green infrastructure with lower long-term operating costs — making efficiency features a genuine sales factor.

A local case for integrated energy reengineering

Rather than upgrading components, Korra Energi is redesigning entire energy systems internally — recovering waste heat, capturing flare gas, and stacking generation modes, CEO Ayman Korra tells EnterpriseAM. Its waste heat recovery plant at Heidelberg Materials Egypt’s Helwan Cement factory covers roughly 30% of self-consumption, he adds. The company says it has built the country’s first trigeneration plant — which produces electricity, heating, and cooling simultaneously from a single fuel source — raising total system efficiency to 76%.

What’s next? Another round of tariff adjustments, which are likely given the IMF mandate. The businesses who have done the engineering work will absorb it. The ones who haven’t will be having a different conversation by this time next year.

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