Electricity… from bad to worst

The government keeps talking about ways to solve the electricity problem, but the sitution is woresning and the projects are still only on paper

The blackouts have reached their climax in Sana’a and other governorates. They amount to about five hours a day, distributed in intervals during the day. Blackouts greatly affect the lives of citizens because there is a lack of regular power supply, unlike any other town or capital in the world. Losses resulting from blackouts include disruptions of trade, storage, refrigeration, and business, as well as the influence on the health of the community because of electricity alternatives like pollution from generators, as well as the inability of citizens to go about their daily activities.

The electricity dilemma is a chronic problem despite government promises, because of the succession of Ministers on this important post and the billions still being allotted to generate electrical energy in more than one way.  

The country’s overall generation is less than a thousand megawatts up to now, running short at 30 percent of the demand, despite the extra costs that the government annually spends on generating stations, in order to purchase 856 megawatt capacity.

The country’s power demand has climbed from 1990 to 2007, with the amount of power produced reaching 1,200 megawatts, exceeding that of 1990 by only 490 megawatts, at a time when the consumers have increased to 1,441,790 according to official statistics.

Loss in bulk

The long and continuous blackouts have caused huge economic losses estimated at millions of rial among the middle and poorer classes.

The most affected are the house owners whose electric devices were destroyed, followed by the owners of medium-sized businesses that rely on electricity in their work, such as restaurants, buffets, shops, carpenters and blacksmiths.

Hamid Zaid, a buffet owner, says that his income has dropped 50 percent during the last two months because of the blackouts.

Hussein al-Wasabi, a grocer, says that he experienced great loses because of damage to food that needs refrigeration, saying that this is true for all other grocers as well.

Awadh al-Soctri, the Electricity Minister and an engineer, held the citizens accountable for the damage of their devices because of the poor house wiring which does not withstand current arrival after an interrupted power supply. This may lead to some electrical appliance damage and may cause fires to breakout as well.

Government actions… but only on paper

The government recently announced the entry of the Marib plant in the generation of electricity, which could enable the electricity corporation to provide power to large areas, adding that it will save a lot of the money which is paid for the purchase of energy from chartered plants.

Al-Soctri, said this week that the operation of the first stage of the Marib gas turbine station will begin next July after the final touches, adding that its overall production capacity will be 341 megawatts. 

Al-Soctri said that, “bidding will be opened shortly for the second and third stages of Marib’s plant which will have a production capacity of 141 megawatts by the end of its third stage”. This came out of the fourth extended meeting of the station control managers, with the topic of “technical control promotion and upgrading of performance quality.”

Al-Soctri added that the analysis of the bids of the contending companies for the qualification of Mabar gas turbine with a capacity of 400 megawatts is now being undertaken, explaining that the ministry will also offer bids for a gas turbine plant with a 400 megawatt capacity.

Cause of blackout

In an interview with one of the ruling party’s newspapers, the Minister said that the reason for the blackouts is the advent of the summer season, where there is an increase in consumption while generation stays at a constant rate. He added that they need to add 100-120 megawatts during ordinary months, because of the 10 percent increase in demand due to the building of new houses, purchase of new electric devices, and the new connections to villages.

The Minister said that the deficit in electricity supply last year was 100 megawatts and it will be to 200 megawatts this year. He said that the plants which were established in the eighties are very old, and they are about to be at the end of their life cycle, as well as their continuous record of annual decrease in performance.

The Minister admitted in the dialogue that the government has been forced to buy power amounting to 200 Megawatts, in addition to another 650 megawatts generated by the currently operating plants as a relief measure to meet the deficit in supply. Parliamentary sources said that this costs $500,000 a day, a matter that is confirmed by the official 26 September newspaper. In response to the question of why the government resorts to relief solutions, he said that establishing new plants takes 3-4 years.

YR 1 billion losses due to electric power deficit

Official announcements ensured that the electricity corporation losses due to power deficit are 25 percent of the overall power needs, costing YR 17.174 billion in one year.

The power deficit due to theft committed by some workshops, factories, and plants that make illegal connections, consume a great deal of the plants’ generated power, forcing the corporation to program blackouts in certain areas to ease the problem.

The deficit reached 432 gigawatts in 2007, exceeding the defecit of 2006 by 231 gigawatts. The Capital Secretariat and Sana’a governorate accounted for the lion's share of the total missing power, costing YR 6.936 billion, raising the total deficit every year.

Theft is not alone to blame for the power deficit. The long distances for power lines, the vast distance between the transformer stations, the long distance between the producing plants and load areas, the old connections in towns with some of these at the verge of collapse, and others have even finished their life cycle are all to blame for the deficit which has reached 30 percent.

Some electricity officials attribute the stoppage of power stations to spare parts which were procured by the concerned authorities from the scraps of famous international markets that sell non-original parts, which will lead to destruction before the start of operation and some pieces fall apart only a few days after installation.

The worst

The problem aggravates some coastal and desert areas where the blackouts threaten people’s health, life, and future, because blackouts continue up to 12 hours a day.

It is notable that the peak of blackouts come at midday and after sun set to add insult to injury, because the hottest temperatures of the day are in the afternoon,  and the time after sunset is an important time for students to study. The blackouts sometimes continue for 3 hours, implying that people should die of heat and we should have a generation of illiterates, being victims of the joint efforts of education and electricity deterioration.

The tragedy inflicted on education is most evident in Hodeidah schools where hundreds of students have to leave the building and go to the school courtyard with their teachers because of the heat, due to blackouts.

Sources say that the officials’ houses are not affected at the same scale as other citizens, because these houses are connected to more than one electric load line, and they reconnect them to their reserve lines when a blackout occurs.

Zohor Abdurrahman from al-Salakhana area in Hodeidah says that the blackouts continue for ten hours day and night. She continued, saying that they didn’t have electricity during the Imam era, but there used to be no high buildings that block the air and they used to sleep on the cold sand. Now that the area has been urbanized, they are beleaguered by high buildings and tarred roads.

Investment and security incidents:

The lack of electricity makes investors wonder about the credibility of government calls for investment while it lacks electricity, which is part of basic operational infrastructure for investment activities.

On the security side, citizens and commercial store owners complain of increased incidences of burglary because of blackouts, particularly on crowded streets. Car theft has also increased in poor areas.

Many women are subjected to harassment in the markets, streets, and public squares in the first few minutes of blackouts before candles are lit or other traditional lighting means come on, with some of this harassment including theft and pick pocketing.

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