KUWAIT: Electricity and Water Dr. Bader Al-Shuraiaan has rejected reports that his ministry is planning to introduce scheduled power cuts, blaming the recent series of blackouts on "individual malfunctions." The minister also asserted that the power cut crises which have dogged Kuwait for years are set to end by June next year, when a major new plant goes into service.

In an interview with local daily Al-Qabas, the minister also revealed that the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) plans to replace 28,000 of the current power transformers in the country with better, more efficient and modern ones. According to the ministry's schedule, the replacement program will see an average of six transformers being replaced per day.

Dr. Al-Shuraiaan also confirmed that the ministry has established an investigation committee to look into the breakdown that hit a number of power transformers in Al-Salam recently. The MEW is also confident that the new Northern Zoor power and water desalination facility will help to avert water shortages. The plant, which the ministry hopes to finish work on shortly, will provide around 280 million gallons of water per day, as well as daily supplying around 4,800 megawatts of power, enough to meet the re
quirements outlined in the government's development plan.

The minister explained that the Sabbiya power plant will eventually have a production capacity of 2,000 megawatts, with 1,300 megawatts of this being available by 2011 and the additional 700 by the following year. Dr. Al-Shuraiaan also revealed that the MEW is planning to develop the current payment system through introducing a clause whereby all previous bills should be settled in full before any further transactions can be approved by the ministry. Another planned innovation is the installation of elect
ricity meters to enable MEW staff to quickly assess consumption levels and charges.

The minister's statement came as 73 percent of Kuwaiti respondents to a survey, also carried out by Al-Qabas, blamed the state for the current power shortage crisis, with 78 percent rejecting any price increases achieved through ending subsidies to the power sector. Fifty-eight percent of the Kuwaiti citizens questioned in the survey believed that their power consumption rates were at acceptable levels, although 75 percent conceded that they do sometimes "cross the limits" in terms of electricity usage. A
total of 32.75 percent of the respondents said that their consumption levels depend on circumstances.

Eighty-eight percent of those surveyed agreed that personal reduction of consumption levels would be the best solution to the problem of power shortages, while only 7.5 percent saw the introduction of additional power generators as the best means of resolving the crisis and only 4.5 percent supported the implementation of a program of scheduled power cuts. - Kuwait Times