Electric Power Outages.

Last update - 13:47 05/06/2006
Police, citing power outages: Avoid using elevators 'til 6 P.M.
By Sharon Kedmi, Haaretz CorrespondentHaaretz Service

As power outages spread across Israel for the second day on Monday, police and fire department officials recommended against using elevators until the brown-outs were to end at 6 P.M.

The Israeli Electric Company, which initiated the brown-outs after technical problems and demand for air conditioning during a continuing heat wave, promised "to make every effort" to limit the duration of the outages and to return power to their customers.

A 68-year-old Ofakim man was in serious condition in Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva on Monday, after a Sunday power outage caused his respirator to fail, Army Radio reported.

The man, Aelin Chikol, was unconscious when he was taken to Soroka for treatment, the radio said.

The IEC said Monday that power outages could recur over the coming weeks, and that it would notify the public in advance of implementing brown-outs.

IEC officials said Sunday that the weather conditions over the past few days led to a greatly increased demand for power, exceeding the production capability of the company's power stations. To protect the electrical system, the company announced, it was initiating brief, localized power outages that would be dispersed among consumers.

"The company apologizes for the inconvenience," a statement said.

Officials also said that IEC is still in the process of renovating production units to meet summertime demand.

The IEC's capacity is some 7,700 megawatts, short of the 8,200 MW of expected demand in the peak afternoon hours.

Additionally, a malfunction occured Sunday in a large production unit (550 MW) at the Rotenberg power plant south of Ashkelon, and the company is contending with malfunctions at other, smaller units as well. Moreover, the Reading power station, which can supply 430 MW, is under administrative closure.

The company announced that another large unit that has been renovated for the summer will go online Monday at Rotenberg.

The utility's management held an emergency meeting on this matter several weeks ago, at which time it emerged that the ability to meet power demands for the summer is not assured and there might be serious shortages. The concern is that unless licenses are obtained to operate the power stations at Alon Tavor, Gezer and Reading, the IEC will not be able to meet anticipated demands.

Under the Electricity Law, the stations can operate only as subsidiaries - that is, upon implementation of reforms in the electricity market that have been postponed until March 2007.

According to IEC data, demand is expected to reach a height of 9,700 MW, compared to 9,030 MW last summer. The maximum production capability will be 10,718 MW, but the available capability will be only 10,666 MW because of various limitations. Definite available capability will be only 8,986 MW.

Sources in the energy market said Sunday that the IEC could solve the problem immediately by establishing licensed subsidiaries. According to these sources, the utility's opposition to the reform leads to fears of power shortages every year.

A company official said Sunday that when there are shortages, the utility manages the power supply in an equitable manner, initiating outages for no more than half an hour and dividing them among all consumers. Usually it is impossible to know where there will be an outage, but as a rule the IEC does not cut off power to essential facilities such as security installations, hospitals, nursing homes and the like.

National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said the IEC needs to take another tack, and he instructed it to comply with the law to enable the operation of the Gezer and Alon Tavor stations.