Carthage Magazine

Updated August 28, 2026 (originally published July 15, 2026) Tunis, August 28, 2026 — What began in mid-July as short, rotating power cuts to shield Tunisia's grid from a punishing heatwave has hardened, six weeks later, into something closer to a way of life. As a fresh heatwave settled over the country this week, the state utility STEG announced load-shedding across every region — Greater Tunis, the North, the North-West, the Centre, Sfax, the South and the South-West — with interruptions now lasting up to two hours at a stretch. The cuts have also crept into the night. Where July's outages were concentrated in the afternoon demand peak, STEG's latest notices warn of interruptions during two daily windows: early afternoon, when air conditioning pushes consumption to its maximum, and late evening into the small hours, roughly 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Some neighborhoods have gone dark between 9 p.m. and midnight by schedule. The message is unambiguous: the grid can no longer reliably carry the country through a hot day — or a hot night. From inconvenience to tragedy The stakes stopped being abstract weeks ago. Local media reported at least five deaths directly linked to the outages during the July crisis, including chronically ill patients whose home oxygen equipment shut down when the power failed — the very risk this magazine flagged when the cuts began. The Organisation of Young Doctors in Tunisia reported a higher toll; authorities have neither confirmed nor responded to those figures. The deaths, and the spread of outages lasting up to six hours in some areas, drove Tunisians into the streets in late July. President Kaïs Saïed ended a period of public silence to call the pace of the cuts "not normal" and demand that those responsible "assume their responsibility" — though no specific remedial measures accompanied the statement. The numbers behind the collapse The arithmetic of the crisis is now public. National demand hit a record 6,000 megawatts in July — up more than a third on normal periods — while STEG's available generation capacity hovered around 4,400 megawatts, according to figures cited by the utility's own union officials. When demand exceeds supply by that margin, load-shedding is not a policy choice; it is the only alternative to the kind of nationwide blackout Tunisia experienced in September 2023. STEG's financial picture explains why the gap exists. The utility's total debt reached 7.36 billion dinars by June, weighed down by rising generation costs, expensive imported gas, and unpaid bills from public institutions. Parliament has approved a $430 million loan to shore up the company's finances — necessary, but no substitute for the generation capacity that years of delayed investment failed to build. Rationing sunshine The bitter irony remains unchanged from July: Tunisia rations electricity while enjoying some 3,000 hours of sunshine a year. Renewables still supply only a small fraction of the mix, far from the 35 percent target set for 2030. The government has responded to the crisis by reiterating plans to accelerate solar deployment and green hydrogen, and STEG says it is coordinating with Algeria and Libya to strengthen cross-border interconnections. The planned 600 MW cable to Italy is still in the pipeline. None of it will arrive before summer ends. Officials project demand will keep growing 2.5 to 3.5 percent a year through 2030, requiring up to 600 megawatts of new capacity annually just to keep pace. This summer has shown what happens when that capacity isn't there. What to do during a cut STEG advises residents to unplug sensitive appliances during outages — the voltage surge when power returns is a known appliance-killer — and reminds customers that the utility's service center can be reached at 71 239 222. Consumer advocates continue to stress that citizens have the right to seek compensation for damaged equipment. Households caring for patients on electrically powered medical devices should contact STEG to be flagged as priority customers, and keep a charged backup battery where possible. The question this magazine posed in July — whether the grid can be rebuilt fast enough to survive the next decade of hotter summers — no longer feels rhetorical. Six weeks of darkness, five confirmed deaths, and a schedule of cuts that now spans day and night have answered how the current system copes. What remains open is whether this summer finally becomes the turning point, or just the new normal.

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