Electricity prices for residential consumers will remain unchanged until at least the end of 2022, Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said during a presser following cabinet’s weekly meeting (watch, runtime: 16:38). Madbouly’s statement follows an announcement by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi earlier this week that the government would not introduce hike prices at the beginning of the fiscal year on 1 July in a bid to ease the weight of inflation on the public.

Residential electricity bills were set to rise by as much as 21% on 1 July, as per the government’s six-year roadmap (pdf) to restructure electricity prices by 2025. Households in the highest consumption tiers — which as of last year have not received subsidies — would have seen prices rise by up to 6%.

Cabinet will reassess the situation in six months’ time and decide whether to continue to leave prices at current levels, Madbouly said yesterday.

The delay comes with a hefty price tag for the state: The six-month delay will cost the state some EGP 10 bn, Madbouly said. Electricity prices are costing the state EGP 16 bn a year, while EGP 4 bn is spent on electricity subsidies.