BAGHDAD -- Nobody bats an eyelash when the power goes out at 10:30 p.m. at the al-Fanar restaurant in central Baghdad. It's pitch black, but diners continue their conversations uninterrupted. A waiter manages to pick his way through the darkened maze of tables carrying a hot dish of chicken biryani, which he delivers to a hungry customer without spilling a grain of rice.

Power blackouts have become so common here that residents at times seem blasé about the amount of time they spend in the dark. When the lights go out, many just shrug and start the gasoline-powered generators that have become the city's most popular home appliance since the end of the war more than seven months ago.

Despite their seeming acceptance of the situation, the flickering electricity is perhaps the biggest complaint ordinary Iraqis have about the country's new U.S.-installed government and a major reason why many believe life was better under the old Baath regime.

Electricity cuts have been the norm in most of Iraq since the end of the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, when United Nations sanctions made it impossible to buy needed equipment. The creaking system is now so old that replacement parts are hard to find, and theft and sabotage have pushed the national grid to a crisis point.

The country is producing about 3,500 megawatts of power; demand is almost twice that.

Last December, most homes in the Baghdad area received 20 hours of electricity a day, with a pair of two-hour planned outages. This winter, most Iraqis receive just eight hours a day, each two hours on followed by four hours off.

"It's getting worse, step by step," said Ahmed Khalid Hussein, chief engineer at the Salaam electric substation in north Baghdad, as another blackout engulfed the neighborhood in which he sat. "There is no new equipment at all."

Wandering through the switching station past a series of limp dial needles showing power was not being transmitted to any of the 14 areas under the station's control, Mr. Hussein said things have become far worse since the U.S.-led invasion and the looting and sabotage that followed. He described the amount of help provided so far by the U.S.-led coalition as laughably small. "The only thing they've given me is this air conditioner; that's all," he said.

The Iraqi Governing Council estimates that the national power grid needs an influx of $18-billion (U.S.) to erase all its problems. And the situation is expected to worsen during the next few months as insurgent attacks on the grid -- seen as a sure way to increase public unhappiness with the occupation forces -- continue and the equipment crisis escalates.

Transmission lines are already in such a bad state that an average rainfall knocked out 19 last month, and 1,000 kilometers of line have been destroyed by saboteurs since the end of the war.

The glimmer of hope is a promised $5.8-billion (U.S.) from Washington to rebuild the grid. The money is supposed to start flowing in February.

The Iraqi Electricity Ministry earlier this month admitted it was all but bankrupt and would not be able to meet Iraq's expected power demands for the coming six months. The government is now considering privatizing the grid, an idea that makes many Iraqis suspicious.

"It costs $1-million to produce one megawatt of power," Ayham al-Samarrai, the country's beleaguered Electricity Minister, said. "At the moment, we have no money at all."

A key part of the solution, according to Nick Horne, an electricity adviser to the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority, is eventually to have Iraqis pay for the electricity they use. Domestic consumers have not had to pay anything for electricity since the war ended, and the coalition knows it risks public anger if it starts trying to bill Iraqis for such sporadic service.

The occupying forces intend to introduce pay-for-use electricity some time between now and June, when they are scheduled to hand over control of Iraq to an interim government, Mr. Horne said.

Fixing the electricity is "right at the top" of the authority's list of things to do, Mr. Horne said, right after establishing better security in the country. It will be several years at least before Iraq has a stable power supply, he said.

Mr. Hussein, who said he's received death threats from irate consumers and carries a pistol in his pocket for protection, thinks the Americans should reverse those priorities and make restoring the electrical grid the top priority. Having consistent power would reduce opposition to the U.S. occupation immediately, he said.

After giving a tour of the substation, Mr. Hussein checked his watch, anxious to head home.

"I must rush there to catch it and perhaps have a hot shower. The electricity is like a guest that comes and goes very quickly. We cannot miss it."

© 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc

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