Heatwave and power cuts strain Tunisia

Tunisia is facing widespread power outages during an intense heatwave, with temperatures reaching as high as 49C and many residents worried about daily life and livelihoods.

For several days, the state electricity and gas company STEG has issued daily heat alerts 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 STEG official told state television that electricity demand may have reached a record six gigawatts on Tuesday, after reaching 5.6 gigawatts only days earlier.

Power and water cuts have affected parts of Tunisia in previous summers, but this year's outages have spread across much of the country. Some residents said their electricity had been cut for up to six hours at a time, while others said the cuts lasted even longer.

At a pastry shop in Tunis, an employee said cakes were left in the dark and refrigerators had stopped working. The outages have become a main subject of discussion online and in the streets. Some people said they were avoiding elevators because they feared being trapped inside.

President Kais Saied called the repeated outages abnormal and said those responsible for the failures should be held accountable.

STEG said the controlled outages were needed to prevent a nationwide blackout. Hela Tlili, a professor at Tunis El Manar University who has worked extensively on renewable energy, said the power system was under pressure from record summer demand and peak tourism. She said the electricity network had not kept up with high consumption and that demand was growing much faster than production.

Tunisia still relies heavily on natural gas for electricity generation. Declining domestic production has increased dependence on imports, while financial pressures have strained the state utility. Tlili also cited an ageing grid and years of insufficient maintenance.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the length, intensity and frequency of heatwaves.

Business groups in Tunisia fear the outages are damaging the economy. Employers' organisation CONECT said the lack of precise schedules for planned cuts made it hard for companies to prepare production. An employee at a factory in a Tunis suburb, who requested anonymity, said work had almost stopped for two days because of repeated outages. A butcher said he feared the cuts and voltage drops would damage his refrigerator.

Tlili said Tunisia also needs to accelerate renewable energy development. She said the country has strong solar potential and favourable conditions for wind power, but that storing electricity would be the biggest challenge and would require significant public investment. She argued that Tunisia needs to diversify its energy resources.

Many Tunisians are struggling to cope with the heat. Mariem, a resident of the working-class suburb of Bhar Lazreg north of Tunis who asked to use a pseudonym, said she could not afford an air conditioner and that her fan had broken. She said she slept on the floor to find cooler conditions and that her son slept with a frozen bottle of water wrapped in a towel on his chest.

The extreme heat has also raised concerns about prison conditions, with advocates saying inmates are held in cells poorly equipped for high temperatures. Dhaker Lahidheb, a cardiologist with a large social media following, called on Saied to grant what he described as climate pardons to inmates with chronic illnesses who were not convicted of serious crimes.