Chavez's new appeal to Venezuelans: Save energy

[Bacchus39]

Chavez's new appeal to Venezuelans: Save energy

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091027/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_lights_out

CARACAS, Venezuela – A nation built atop a sea of energy is struggling to keep the lights on.

Demonstrators angrily brandish surge-damaged blenders, televisions and stereos outside the offices of Venezuela's state utility company. Others burn electricity bills in the streets to protest recurring blackouts.

A record drought and years of poor planning have made blackouts and water shortages an increasingly frequent fact of life in much of oil-rich Venezuela, prompting protests that have President Hugo Chavez scrambling for answers.

The leftist leader is using his near daily televised speeches to urge Venezuelans to turn down their air conditioners and abandon their swimming pools. He's even lectured the country on the bracing virtues of a cold, three-minute shower.

Chavez has sprung into action in the past week, announcing a contingency plan to conserve electricity and appointing a new Cabinet minister to oversee the electrical sector. Chavez says rationing may be in order and he'll set an example by turning down the air conditioning and turning off more lights at the presidential palace.

Wasting electricity is "a crime," the president says, and on Sunday he warned shopping malls that they use too much power and should no longer rely on a cheap supply. "They're going to have to buy their generator, and if not I'll cut off their power," he said.

The socialist leader blamed part of the predicament on wealthy Venezuelans who have swimming pools, wash their cars compulsively and have a TV set in every room. "Those who waste the most are the rich," he said.

Total power consumption has risen about 25 percent since 2004 — a period during which Venezuela enjoyed an oil boom while electricity rates have been frozen, leaving little incentive to save energy.

Millions of poor Venezuelans help themelves to electricity for free by splicing wires onto power lines.

Critics of Chavez contend the government ignored the root of the problem far too long: investments needed to expand power production and satisfy rising consumption.

Opposition newspaper editor Teodoro Petkoff, in his daily Tal Cual, accused Chavez and his allies of neglecting the energy sector and said: "The electricity crisis is Hugo Chavez's legitimate son. DNA tests are not necessary to prove it."

Chavez concedes that delays in maintenance and faulty planning are partly to blame, but insists that rising demand and recent weather changes are bigger problems.

"It's El Nino," he said, referring to the periodic phenomenon in which warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean creates unusual weather patterns.

El Nino is blamed for a lack of rainfall that is causing water shortages and starving the hydroelectric dams that produce about three-fourths of Venezuela's electricity. Chavez says the water level at the Guri dam, the country's largest, is about 30 percent below its previous record low.

Venezuela's rainy season ends next month and significant rainfall isn't likely to return until May or June, so many experts expect more power failures.

Staggered water rationing — by cutting off supplies to a district for a day — is due to start in Caracas next month and Chavez is calling on Venezuelans to conserve water.

He recently joked that he needs only three-minute showers: "I've counted and I don't end up stinking; I guarantee it."

Chavez's government is distributing energy-saving light bulbs and setting up diesel-powered generators in the most affected regions. He is also mulling a decree that would let the government fine consumers who use too much electricity.

He says businesses should turn off their illuminated signs.

A power outage that knocked out a nebulizer used to treat her 2-year-old daughter for asthma prompted Aixa Lopez, a 39-year-old lawyer in Caracas, to start a pressure group that monitors the extent of the problem.

Her Committee for People Affected by Power Outages reports that blackouts have recently hit all of Venezuela's 24 states, and eight of them are suffering frequent outages — on average three to five times a week and up to 12 hours at a time in the worst cases.

Blackouts at hospitals have interrupted surgeries. Several major outages in Caracas this year have shut down the subway and street lights.

"There's no denying government inefficiency caused this crisis," Lopez said, noting that Venezuela never experienced significant power outages or other problems before Chavez nationalized key electrical companies in 2007.

The government says it has spent $16.5 billion on updating the electrical grid since 2002, but only two of about three dozen projects have been fully completed, according to the Web site of the state-run electricity corporation.

In areas where blackouts are most frequent, some exasperated Venezuelans seem to be losing their patience.

Farmer Rafael Moreno said one blackout shut down the air conditioning system at his chicken farm in western Tachira state and killed more than 12,000 chickens.

"I lost over $27,000 in a matter of four hours," said Moreno, who has since bought diesel generators to cope.

[spanza]

1. Productivity in stores down to 50 percent due to power failures

Retailers invest in electric generators but they will transfer the cost to consumers

Economy
The entrepreneurs are not the only ones to warn of the untoward effects of power outages on the manufacturing sector. The problem also affects individuals, and retailers in the provinces, who have reported a dramatic fall (up to 50 percent) in productivity due to frequent blackouts.

In the case of industries, the outlook appears bleak, considering that they have been affected for a month by a reduction in gas supply, which sooner than later will also disturb the ability of businesses to generate alternative energy. Amidst this scenario, the state-run oil company Pdvsa Gas will cut consumption by 20 percent in administrative and operational facilities.

According to Fernando Morgado, president of The National Council for Trade and Services (Consecomercio), the time without power service in the provinces can vary, but usually lasts up to five hours.

The businessman told private TV news network Globovisión that, in the face of it, many businesses resolved to buy electric generators in order to compensate for lost power production. However, he warned, "this investment will be reflected in the final price of goods." In short, this will create inflation.

Carlos Larrazábal, president of the Venezuelan Council of Industry (Conindustria), said that the industrial parks hit by a lower gas pressure, which means lower production of alternative fuels, are those located in the Anaco-Barquisimeto area.

[Braulio]

2. Gas Shortage is Real

It seems the primary reasons for the lack of electricity are:

1. the gas shortage, which according to experts has been caused by very poor execution of the Anaco Gas Development in Eastern Venezuela, as well as the delays in developing offshore gas fields. This in turn led the government to defer construction of gas-fired power plants. It seems they followed the advice of Cuban "experts" who suggested Venezuela begin to use a distributed power system with small diesel-fired generators. These of course are more inefficient and burn fuel Venezuela can export for a nice profit.

2. The drought which leads to lower levels in the large damns.

3. The poor condition of the national electric power distribution grid, which has had poor maintenance in the last few years.

4. Population growth. This of course causes more demand. H

owever, the statistics I've seen show the peak demand is the problem, which means addition of a couple of large gas fired plants and good grid maintenance can fix the problem. The question is whether the government, using its new "socialist enterprise model" can fix anything at all. My bet is they'll give the contracts to a foreign company such as Fluor or Technip, and toss money at the problem now that it has become a national emergency.