Several years before Iraqis have normal power supply
By Nick Olivari

BASRA, Iraq, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Ordinary Iraqis will have to wait another five to seven years for a reliable electricity supply that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week across the country, according to U.S. authorities in Iraq.

While statements by the U.S. government that the production and availability of electricity is improving are true, they ignore the fact that production is barely back to pre-war levels after dropping by half in the days following the invasion.

The United States has spent some $1.4 billion on power supply, with 117 projects completed and another 230 in progress, but electricity is still limited to three hours on and three hours off in many places. Baghdad gets even less power.

That leaves an estimated $1.6 billion to be spent completing existing projects and another 54 contracts still to be bid.

"We are trying to put in place capacity building measures but they have a number of years ahead of them," said Colonel David Bender, a program officer with the United States' Project Contracting Office, Electricity Sector, in Baghdad.

And those projected project costs don't include aid work related to the power grid by other organisations.

Bender said the American government is committed to providing the electricicty infrastructure necessary to revive the ailing economy, but the problems are numerous.

INSURGENCY AND NEGLECT

The ongoing insurgency, funding, getting equipment and the right fuel to generation plants, and an existing infrastructure that suffered years of neglect under the former regime are just some of the battles.

The newest power generation facility comes with the addition of two 125 mega watt General Electric gas-fired turbines at the existing Khor Az Zubair plant near Basra in southern Iraq.

With the refurbishment of four older generators, the plant's output is essentially doubled and it now supplies 5 percent of total output to the national grid, or electricity to 200,000 homes, at a cost of $123 million.

Yet despite the relative stability in the southern part of the country, security around the plant is tight with contract personnel from several nations including South Africa.

Elsewhere around the country, the Iraqi Reconstruction Management Office has registered 29 successful attacks on major transmission lines, or almost one a week, since they began keeping statistics in June 2005.

With the majority of attacks on the vulnerable lines feeding Baghdad from the north, the capital can get as few as four to six hours of electricity a day, said Bender.

That compares with some 10 to 11 hours of power a day around the rest of the country, including the city of Basra, alternating with a few hours on and a few hours off.

Given Baghdad's priority for power under the previous regime city residents typically complain the loudest about the spotty supply but even if insurgent attacks are stopped, they can only expect the same as other cities and towns in future.

"Our objective is to ensure the equitable distribution of electricity throughout the country," Bender said.

Wow, not having electricity really really sucks. I've experienced power outages in Nigeria and it's really annoying.

Iraq power grid said to be near collapse
By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer
Sat Aug 4, 5:06 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse because of insurgent sabotage of infrastructure, rising demand, fuel shortages and provinces that are unplugging local power stations from the national grid, officials said Saturday.

Electricity Ministry spokesman Aziz al-Shimari said power generation nationally is only meeting half the demand, and there had been four nationwide blackouts over the past two days. The shortages across the country are the worst since the summer of 2003, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, he said.

Power supplies in Baghdad have been sporadic all summer and now are down to just a few hours a day, if that. The water supply in the capital has also been severely curtailed by power blackouts and cuts that have affected pumping and filtration stations.

Karbala province south of Baghdad has been without power for three days, causing water mains to go dry in the provincial capital, the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

"We no longer need television documentaries about the Stone Age. We are actually living in it. We are in constant danger because of the filthy water and rotten food we are having," said Hazim Obeid, who sells clothing at a stall in the Karbala market.

Electricity shortages are a perennial problem in Iraq, even though it sits atop one of the world's largest crude oil reserves. The national power grid became decrepit under Saddam Hussein because his regime was under U.N. sanctions after the Gulf War and had trouble buying spare parts or equipment to upgrade the system.

The power problems are only adding to the misery of Iraqis, already suffering from the effects of more than four years of war and sectarian violence. Outages make life almost unbearable in the summer months, when average daily temperatures reach between 110 and 120 degrees.

One of the biggest problems facing the national grid is the move by provinces to disconnect their power plants from the system, reducing the amount of electricity being generated across the country. Provinces say they have no choice because they are not getting as much electricity in return for what they produce, mainly because the capital requires so much power.

"Many southern provinces such as Basra, Diwaniyah, Nassiriyah, Babil have disconnected their power plants from the national grid. Northern provinces, including Kurdistan, are doing the same," al-Shimari said. "We have absolutely no control over some areas in the south," he added.

"The national grid will collapse if the provinces do not abide by rules regarding their share of electricity. Everybody will lose and there will be no electricity winner," al-Shimari said.

He complained that the central government was unable to do anything about provincial power stations pulling out of the national system, or the fact some provinces were failing to take themselves off the supply grid once they had consumed their daily ration of electricity.

Najaf provincial spokesman Ahmed Deibel confirmed to The Associated Press Sunday that the gas turbine generator there had been removed from the national grid. He said the plant produced 50 megawatts while the province needed at least 200 megawatts.

"What we produce is not enough even for us. We disconnected it from the national grid three days ago because the people in Baghdad were getting too much, leaving little electricity for Najaf," he said.

Compounding the problem, al-Shimari said there are 17 high-tension lines running into Baghdad but only two were operational. The rest had been sabotaged.

"What makes Baghdad the worst place in the country is that most of the lines leading into the capital have been destroyed. That is compounded by the fact that Baghdad has limited generating capacity," al-Shimari said.

"When we fix a line, the insurgents attack it the next day," he added.

Fuel shortages are also a major problem. In Karbala, provincial spokesman Ghalib al-Daami said a 50-megawatt power station had been shut down because of a lack of fuel, causing the entire province to be without water and electricity for the past three days.

He said sewage was seeping above ground in nearly half the provincial capital because pump trucks used to clean septic tanks have been unable to operate due to gasoline shortages. The sewage was causing a health threat to citizens and contaminating crops in the region.

Many people who normally would rely on small home generators for electricity can't afford to buy fuel. Gasoline prices have shot up to nearly $5 a gallon, Karbala residents say, a price that puts the fuel out of range for all but the wealthy.

"We wait for the sunset to enjoy some coolness," said Qassim Hussein, a 31-year-old day laborer in Karbala. "The people are fed-up. There is no water, no electricity, there is nothing, but death. I've even had more trouble with my wife these last three days. Everybody is on edge."

Iraq has the world's third-largest proven oil reserves, behind Saudi Arabia and Iran. But oil production has been hampered by insurgent and saboteur attacks, ranging from bombing pipelines to siphoning off oil. The attacks have cost the country billions of dollars since the 2003 U.S. invasion. Dilapidated infrastructure has also hindered refining, forcing Iraq to import large amounts of kerosene and other oil products.

The electricity problems come as leaders are trying to deal with a political crisis that erupted when the country's largest bloc of Sunni political parties withdrew from the government.

President Bush called Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Vice President Adel Abdel-Mahdi to urge them to try to preserve political unity in the country, where the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is under a stiff challenge from rival political forces and insurgents.

Talabani, a Kurd, and Abdel-Mahdi, a Shiite, provided few details of the conversations in statements released by their offices. But both men have been involved in trying to solve the crisis.

Elsewhere, the U.S. military announced the death of a Marine during combat Thursday in Iraq's western Anbar province.

The U.S. military also issued a statement saying its forces killed four suspects and captured 33 others Saturday in raids in northern Iraq and along the Tigris River Valley.

In northern Iraq, a prison riot was brought under control two days after it broke out when Iraqi guards prepared to move inmates into an isolation unit and U.S. soldiers surrounded the facility.

The riot at Badoosh prison outside Mosul, about 220 miles northwest of Baghdad, involved nearly 65 inmates. Iraqi guards killed one inmate who was trying to escape from the prison yard and wounded two others inside the prison, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The U.S. military said American troops did not fire any rounds during the disturbance and no U.S. or Iraqi troops were wounded.

Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.