Who turned out the lights?

When I was in Kathmandu it was on Sunday night. Here in Pokhara, it began as Friday and Sunday nights, as well as Tuesday mornings. As of today it’s everyday.

What am I talking about? Power outages.

In Kathmandu, it was kind of fun to have no power for 4 hours on Sunday evening. We would all get out the candles, chat, eat, and live the simple life. Sure, sometimes it was annoying, like when I felt like using the computer or really seeing my way around the house. But in general, I just accepted it as part of living in Nepal.

Then when I came to Pokhara, I was told that 3 times a week the power was cut – Friday and Sunday nights for 2.5 hours each, and Tuesday morning for 3 hours. It was a little more inconvenient simply because it occurred more often, but still I didn’t really mind.

But last night, as I was sitting in bed reading the newspaper, I noticed an article on the bottom of the front page entitled, “3 hrs per day power cut from Friday”. Whhhhhaaaatttt???? 3 hours every single day? That’s 21 hours a week with no power!! Why????

According to the article, the country’s “run-of-river” projects are producing less than half the amount of power they usually generate. Apparently, the water level in the reservoirs are diminishing every day because of the incredibly growth in demand for energy. Nepal has a huge power deficit already (1.3 million units/day) and the country already imports 80 megawatts of power from India. So, the solution here is simply to forcibly cut off power… every day. (Imagine what kind of outburst that would create in the West!!). But, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority, even a power cut of 21 hours of week will not be enough to solve the problem, and as of February they are likely to cut our power for more than 40 hours a week!! That’s like 6 hours a day…!

Sitting here, writing this article, I am not sure if this solution will really solve the problem. I know that, for my part, once I find out what times the power will be cut, I will make sure that I always have my electronics charged, and I will make sure I have already used the internet that day and whatnot. In essence, I will use almost the exact same amount of power in a day as I would if the power had not been cut. Perhaps the only difference is that I won’t be able to turn on lights at night – but I can’t imagine that solving the huge power problem in Nepal.