Energy rich but power poor, Chavez turns off the lights

Venezuelans are paying for a record drought and years of poor planning. Photo / AP

CARACAS - 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.

He 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.

He 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 this week he warned shopping centres 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.

A poll this week said Chavez's popularity had slipped, with 46 per cent of those surveyed expressing a positive opinion about his presidency, compared to 53 per cent a month earlier. Polling firm Datanalisis said the result appeared linked mainly to concerns about the economy and other factors that included growing complaints about the power and water problems - which appeared for the first time in the poll as a combined 6 per cent named electricity or water when asked about the nation's top problem.

Total power consumption has risen about 25 per cent 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 themselves to electricity for free by splicing wires on to power lines.