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- October 13, 202618°
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- INTEREST37.00%-1.00
- BITCOIN82,230-1.72%
- October 13, 202618°
Extreme heat and power cuts leave Tunisians desperate as temperatures hit 49°C
Prolonged power cuts during an extreme heatwave in Tunisia have paralyzed daily life and heightened economic concerns.
An extreme heatwave that pushed temperatures to 49°C in Tunisia, coupled with prolonged power cuts nationwide, has sparked public anger. The state electricity and gas company STEG has been issuing daily warnings for days, announcing which neighborhoods will face power cuts to ease pressure on the national grid.
STEG CEO Faycel Trifa said heavy air conditioning use pushed the electricity grid to its limit. Another company official told state television that electricity demand may have reached a record 6 gigawatts on Tuesday, after being recorded at 5.6 gigawatts a few days earlier.
Power and water cuts had affected parts of Tunisia in previous summers, but this year's outages spread across much of the country. Some residents said their electricity was cut for up to six hours at a time, while others reported even longer durations.
A worker at a pastry shop in the capital Tunis said, "I feel like God has opened the gates of hell," pointing to cakes left in the dark and idle refrigerators. The outages have become one of the country's main talking points both online and on the streets. Some citizens say they are now afraid to use elevators, fearing they might get trapped inside.
President Kais Saied described the repeated cuts as abnormal and said those responsible for the failures must be held accountable.
Aging grid
STEG said the controlled cuts were necessary to prevent a nationwide power collapse. Professor Hela Tlili, who conducts extensive research on renewable energy at the University of Tunis El Manar, said the electricity system is struggling under record summer demand and the peak tourism season.
Tlili also said the grid cannot keep up with high consumption. "Demand is rising much faster than production," Tlili said, pointing to the aging grid and years of insufficient maintenance.
Tunisia still relies heavily on natural gas for electricity generation. But declining domestic production is increasing dependence on imports, while financial pressures strain the state utility. Scientists note that human-caused climate change is making heatwaves longer, more intense and more frequent.
Tunisian business groups worry the cuts are damaging the economy. The employers' organization CONECT said the lack of precise schedules for planned outages makes it difficult for companies to prepare for production. A worker at a factory in a Tunis suburb, who asked not to be named, said work had nearly ground to a halt for two days due to repeated cuts.
A butcher, worried about the damage outages and voltage drops could cause to his equipment, said, "They're going to ruin my refrigerator."
Paradigm shift
Tlili said Tunisia must also accelerate the development of renewable energy. She noted the country has enormous solar potential and favorable conditions for wind power, but the biggest challenge will be storing electricity. Adding that this would require significant public investment, Tlili argued Tunisia needs "a paradigm shift" to diversify its energy sources.
Meanwhile, many Tunisians are struggling to cope with the heat. Mariem, who lives in the working-class suburb of Bhar Lazreg north of the capital Tunis and asked to use a pseudonym, said she cannot afford an air conditioner and her fan broke down. "I slept on the floor to find some coolness," Mariem said, adding that her son slept with a frozen water bottle wrapped in a towel on his chest.
The extreme heat has also raised concerns about prison conditions. Advocates say inmates are held in cells not equipped to withstand high temperatures. Cardiologist Dhaker Lahidheb, who has a large social media following, called on President Saied to launch what he described as a "climate pardon" for prisoners with chronic illnesses who have not been convicted of serious crimes.
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