In Tunisia long power outages across the country have added to the strain of an intense heatwave, with temperatures as high as 49C. In neighbouring Algeria, more than 100 people were hospitalised after wildfires, the country's interior minister said this week.
Issued on: 24/07/2026 - 23:04
3 min Reading time
For days, the STEG state electricity and gas company has been issuing daily heat alerts in Tunisia, listing neighbourhoods where it would cut electricity to reduce pressure on the national grid. STEG chief executive Faycel Trifa said heavy air conditioner use had pushed the electricity network to its limit. Another company official told state television that electricity demand may have reached a record 6 gigawatts on Tuesday, after hitting 5.6 gigawatts only days earlier. "I’m adapting. Since the power cuts out every two hours, I avoid stocking up on food so it doesn’t spoil," vendor Mohamed Ali told RFI's reporter in the city of El Fahs, north of Tunisia. "We’ve been in this situation for three weeks, and no one understands what’s going on because the outages happen constantly." The outages have become one of the country's main talking points, both online and in the streets. Some residents say their electricity has gone off for up to six hours at a time, while some are avoiding using lifts for fear of being trapped inside. The Young Doctors' Association has recorded nearly 150 heatwave-related deaths. Temperatures likely to remain at record levels until 2030, UN warns
