A spokesperson for Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity said on Sunday that calls for non-payment of the electricity bills are “subversive”, adding that these bills are the main income for the electricity companies.

Egyptian activists have called for withholding payment of electricity bills, in protest against the frequent power cuts in all districts of Egypt.

The online campaigns against paying the bills called on citizens not to pay for "a service they do not get."

"If people stop paying the bills that will lead to the collapse of the electricity companies," Deputy Minister of Electricty Aktham Abul-Ela said, according to a local newspaper.

Abu-Ela appealed to citizens not to respond to such “destructive” calls.

The monthly income of electricity bills amount to 2.3 billion Egyptian pounds, 1.2 billion of which cover the debts and interests of the sector's investments. Around $570 million are allocated for wages, whereas 200 million pounds are paid for fuel, according to the Deputy Minister of Electricty.

Meanwhile, an unnamed official at the Ministry of Electricity said that the coming period will witness "an improved service and a decrease in power outages as well as more availability of gas, fuel and diesel," reported the Akhbar newspaper.

The Deputy Chairman of the Holding Company for Natural Gas, Khaled Abdel-Badie, said that there is a priority to supply power plants with gas and alternative fuels, adding that there is an emergency plan to cope with power cuts through the introduction of new lines.