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Complaints Kuwait

No Electricity

One of the employees at my agency lives in an area close to Jleeb. Everyday for the past few days they’ve been getting automated power cuts. They have 2 hours of electricity and then 2 hours without, 2 hours with, 2 hours without non stop. Thursday they didn’t have electricity from 11 in the morning till 5 in the evening even. He called up the ministry and they told him there isn’t anything they can do about it and that the cuts are automated by the computer.

I think that is absolutely terrible. No electricity in this weather is just horrible. I’ve heard there are power cuts happening all over Kuwait although not to this extent. How bad is it for everyone?

72 replies on “No Electricity”

there have been lot of power cuts all over kuwait…

jleep.. a few days back in salmiya until they fixed the problem… and shuwaikh canada dry street and the zaina street area (off canada dry the electrical market)

whts happening……….

.. started a thread on this.
the plight of the residents there is sad.
nothing has changed as of today.. the same 2 hour saga.

great to see some things dont go ignored Mark. Good Job!

Such a shame that a rich well developed country like Kuwait would experience electricity cuts. It doesn’t make sense.

thats exactly what the gcc power grid is suppose to solve. surplus power would be sold to Kuwait from neighboring countries (mainly saudi) whenever needed. come on GCC get your act together.

it seems that we live in africa.. do u beilve that q8 gives donations to the world USE THIS MONEY FOR US FIX THE ELECTICITY WE AREN’T LIVING IN ESKEEMOZ

No power cuts in Mishref either, thank god. Seriously this is utterly effed. I mean, this is clearly violation of the human right to live in god damn AC…buy more power generators ffs.

My Uncle is living in Abbassiya and its true that there is a power cut almost every 2 hours. My main concern is that while this is the case for J’leeb, its not so for the remaining area’s in Kuwait. Why so??? Could it be because of “Indian Expats” who are living there and hence a soft target ???

so far nothing in bayan , but this is some serious crazy shitt !! why r they cutting the electricity when everyone is on vaca ?! and have they seen the friggen weather ?!!

The main reason for power cut down is due more and more buildings are being constructed all over kuwait causing more power consumption, the rate at which electricity is being consumed is becoming more than that is produced

This is really awful, Its totally sad to have such things in a country that actually export energy like Kuwait! Something is fishy and its really bugging everyone!

No cuts in South Surra so far .. I have 2 babies at home, It will a desaster if they started cutting power on my kids while am at work! Its just so degrading.

Salmiya had a similar story. A collegue of mine was saying there was no power for 11hours over the weekend. Only busy expat areas are targetted. soft targets as they dont know whom to call to or even if called, cant speak arabic and complain!

Mohammed….at the rate they’re “constructing”, I highly doubt they reqquire a lot of energy and electricity. 10 years for one road (regardless of how “big” they claim this project to be, we have become the joke of a number of western engineering magazines “10 minutes in 10 years.”)
Just my opinion 🙂

And if they effin did something about this problem when they noticed it years ago and built another generator (about time we had more than one built in the 60s!), then the problem would seize to exist.

From the looks of it, they seem to believe power cuts are a solution to the problem rather than a targee3a.

Construction is not the reason for lack of capacity, the heat has come a lot sooner then last year, this heat was expected for Mid July not now but that doesn’t change the fact that they aren’t read for it.

They had a huge campaign which cost millions but no power plant project was moved forward yet. We need an immediate solution, buy from our neighbors and to push forward with new power plans! Its been the same issue since 2005. And I don’t think its right they are targeting expats, they should evenly shutdown power in all areas.

And a matter of fact 60% of the power drain is happening in the outer areas such as Jahra, Sulaibeekhat, Mubarak Al Kabeer, and Qurain, with four to five story homes built, A/C on every floor, and full on lighting as if they are at the Oscars. If you want to really force people to cut consumption then make them pay their bills and gradually increase the cost of power instead of subsidizing 95% of the cost. That way people will get a real feel for the cost instead of just using it as free commodity.

Its sad to see one of the world’s wealthiest countries experience such actions in the name of savings or awareness. We get the idea that if we become careless we will face problems in the future. This nonsense should stop immediately. The government should stop spending millions on people who stabbed us from the back and instead build two or even more power generators to supply its people with an extreme necessity in the summer. Thank god Im out of the country. I also feel sorry for all mt people who are trying to cope with all this bullshit. This did not happen that often even during the Iraqi Invasion. allah ikoon ib 3onkom ya jima3a, shidaw 7ailkom.

Lol. Kuwait are first to put their hands in their pockets for international Disaster relief, rebuilding and donations but won’t cater to their own needs.

Conservation is a slow and sustainable process but awareness is also important. Kuwait has a lot of desert, it is a pity we do not have a power station yet. Kuwait generates a lot of gas while oil is produced, unfortuantely majority of it is flared and never utilised. Is anyone listening?

funnny enough if the authorities just took simple steps like switching off alternate street lamps across all internal streets within all districts…it would have an awesome efffect on overall power saved….and then in effect no need for such random so called computer-targeted farce power cuts in low-income household areas!!

@Talli: I’ve been thinking the same thing… Also they should turn down the cooling at malls, and exterior decorative lighting (those huge floods lights that light up buildings from the ground) for buildings and malls. but the street lights would have the most impact.

We dont need to be rocket scientists to think of ways to conserve power…

wake up people this is kuwait here peoples only care about them selves. ministry does not care how hot the weather is and they are cutting the power of hunderds of people.

I think the responsibility fits squarely on the government’s shoulders.

This issue did not spring up overnight and like waleed alothman said, spend Kuwait’s money on Kuwait, especially with something that’s literally a potential life and death issue like power. There’s plenty to go around, why is our government generous with everyone else but seems to hate us? Way to display malice towards the people you’re meant to love after by not providing them with the proper utilities and not setting them as a priority.

Okay fine Let them cut the electricity every 2 hours in jaleeb, but what i know years ago if such a thing happends, the MEW brings out those huge container like generators and hooks it up in the neighbourhood and provids current for the suffering in their homes, WHY ARE THEY NOT DOING THAT FOR THE PAST 3 DAYS??

for some reason , all ur comments are starting to make me believe that the government is in a conspiracy with the airlines to earn more money :S

i’m sorry to hear you guys are still having this problem. I left Kuwait 2 years ago – when I remember there being perhaps one of the first big poste-campaigns all over the city, a huge dial going from gree to yellow to red – letting everyone know what energy production was available (i.e. not enough). I remember reading at that time there were plans to construct a new power station. Clearly that takes time, but does anyone know if you’re any closer to having extra supply? To create a GCC grid is probably as expensive and time consuming as building a new oil-powered generating station.

I was impressed to see that in the avenues they were taking steps to help this. The A/C was alot less than usual and some of the escalators in Ikea were not working. Although not enough.. was still pretty impressed.

apparently , everything’s back on track so far .. no power cuts since 11 pm yesterday.

keeping aside the whole mess , i do sincerely hope people irregardless of area , appreciate electricity and do their best to conserve it.

My first summer in Kuwait was in 2003, and there were power cuts then (I don’t know about years before that) – but that was 7 years ago that they KNEW that they didn’t make enough electricity, and there seems to have been nothing done in the past 7 years to alleviate the problem.

A couple blocks of Jabriya had power out a day last week, but thankfully, not my block – I am pregnant and seem to be boiling even when the AC is blowing!

Power cuts in Abbassiya, Jleeb, Salmiya..all expat struck areas…Conspiracy..hmmmmmm???!!!!??
But seriously it is really bad…most the kids are on vacation and are at home…parents are worried…food going bad…and to top it all the heat is just killing…please do something soon..!!!

Solar power is that comes to my mind…the government could fund the installation of solar collerctors on ppl’s roofs or something…
It always seemed such an obvious thing considering it’s sunny all the time…does anyone know why they don’t do it?

the situation in abbasiya is getting worse.. i live in abbasiya and we are having powercuts every 2 hours and lasts for nearly 2.5 hours.. many people relying on candle lights, yes we are back to primitive ages.. yesterday night when i was coming back from my cousin’s home (walking, ofcourse with the help of my mobile as the power source)i saw lot of people with their small kids on the streets, helpless poor souls .. its a torture in these extreme temperatures..
Happy news as of today is that India embassy has intervened and Ambassador had a meeting with the officials and it is told that situation will be OK by tomorrow..

Studies have proven that using 10 percent of Kuwait’s total area for generating electricity from solar power can produce power equal to 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily. The trouble with the trolley is that the MEW is certainly not willing to privatize, nor subsidize Solar Plant Projects to private firms. Instead, it is playing the waiting game till the dust bowl slowly, but surely fries…KISR has been conducting studies for almost 2 decades if not longer. Outcome?

mmm yeah no Power cuts in Bayan , shamiya… etc etc etc … (residential areas – local)

salmiya (old salmiya shoping center) had power cuts until some repairs were done after 1 month

mostly expat residential areas effected with power cuts!

@Marzouk:
just look around and see how many big buildings are being made day by day by breaking small houses/buildings.
when they planned electricity for these areas they did not keep this in mind and these big buildings cause too much of electricity consumption when compared to the small
houses/buildings that were present before.
I totally agree to your opinion of power drain
in the areas of Jahra Sulaibeekhat and that they should evenly shutdown power in all areas.
And in my opinion construction of these big buldings also has a big role in draining of electricity

The reasons for this is not money. It is incompetency and bureaucracy. The lack of planning, the lack of action and just laziness. That’s what this country is all about.

With regards to people implying that only expat areas are getting power cuts, Odalia got power cuts a couple of days ago until 11:00 at night, ant Nuzha’s been getting power cuts irregularly for months before this issue was begrudgingly brought to our attention.

Puhleeeeze, if there were power cuts in Dahiya Abdullah Al-Salem or Shuwaikh (residential) there would be Hell to pay.

It has nothing to do with conservation either. The Emirates has an electicity surplus and sells theirs to neighboring countries.

There are 2 words that don’t exist in the local dialect: planning and maintenance. That is the problem. 5+ years ago (or has it been more like 10 now?) there were also power outages during a hot summer. Why haven’t more power plants been built since then?

Nuzha is right next to Abdulla Al Salem, and Odalia is right next to Nuzha, these ARE residential areas with more Kuwaitis than expats. The argument that Kuwaitis aren’t suffering from this issue either is naïve.

I like the answer

“there isn’t anything they can do about it and that the cuts are automated by the computer.”

so in the future if a baby is crying and mother is not programmed to feed the child, what should the baby do keep crying 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

Typical corruption and greed which is rampant in this country and will never change.
If the tenders for new power generation plants and desalination plants were offered internationally, a foreign company would come in and finish the job within the specified timeframe (otherwise they would incur penalties).
However all local tenders (if and when they are opened up) are always awarded to local companies (money in local pockets) and they take their time finishing (i.e. 5th ring road) as there are no penalties forced on a local company.
That’s why Dubai is the way it is and Kuwait will never manage to advance.

I don’t know about targeting expats, but I’m a Kuwaiti and I live in a house in Salmiya and the area had an electricity cut too. So did the Neighboring houses and to my knowledge block 12 has more Kuwaitis living in houses than expats in it.

Please don’t make up secret agenda scenarios if none of you have any sort of proof to back it up.

i was at least relieved that i live in kuwait,not in a third world country.there are roads which are well built,people are paid well for their jobs.there is law and order,and we once upon a time had electricity available 24 hours.what happened to kuwait?
I prefer living in the gulf,and particularly kuwait because its a muslim country and well-developed.

It seems that the issue in Jleeb is due to overheating of the Transformer. They are planning to install a new Transformer tomorrow (Tuesday).

Wow. I mean one thing is clear. Some areas are being targetted more than others. I hope everyone can agree to that at least? So the people that make these decisions. Do they have no conscience or sympathy whatsoever? They do this for one day and I’m assuming no complaints. So they push for a second, third, fourth, fifth . . . ???!!? Are these not God fearing people? I’m sure the electric bills are paid when it’s that time of the year so why torture them? Riz I hope to God what you posted comes true. Or I fear a riot will break out. It isn’t difficult to imagine. An arab/indian/bangladeshi/ pakistani/… comes home dripping in sweat from a God knows how many hours work day. He/she goes to switch on the a/c, the hot breeze hits his/her(/their) face and just as it starts to get cool the power is cut. Stack this on top of the kind of day he/she(/they) had at work, the fact that they haven’t even eaten yet, the temperature outside and the outcome could be disastrous. And which SENSIBLE, MORALLY CORRECT person could blame them for their actions? I mean they have to go through the same thing the next day! Seriously it’s sad. Maybe if there’s less money Kuwait should dip his/her hand into The Kuwait Fund and use some of it to build a few more power generators? Just make sure that the people doing the dipping don’t have sticky fingers 😉 bless!

The cut’s are not randomly made by a computers this is just a thing they say to make people calm down. It all depends on the electric grid, they shut the branch that goes over a limit so that the transformer doesn’t get burnt. and this is happening because of the heat wave last week combined with a no maintenance to generators and transformers which reduces production increases consumptions. the problem isn’t MEW it’s above it they are not approving maintenance nor expansion.

Btw excuse my ignorance but can someone PLEASE tell me what are the duties of the baladia? Please include the trivial ones aswell. Thanks!

Update: Electricity cut at 8:51 in jleeb. Time may be off a bit. Maybe someone from the area could verify? Hope it’s their last day.

Reno H, here’s a rough translation of the information found on this page of baladia.gov.kw, as per the responsibilities. Keep in mind that they’re all administrations (“administation of…”):
إدارة الأغذية المستوردة – Imported foods
إدارة المناقصات والعقود – Contracts/Paperwork
إدارة الأنظمة الهندسية – Architecture
إدارة التطوير والتدريب – Development & Training
إدارة الخدمات العامة – General Services
إدارات الرقابة والتفتيش – Surveillance
إدارة العلاقات العامة – Public Relations
الإدارة القانونية – Legal
الإدارة المالية – Money
إدارة المخطط الهيكلي – I can only translate this into containing the words “planning” and “structure”, as my Arabic is slightly lacking. I don’t quite understand it either.
إدارةالمساحة – “Area” I should read more Arabic.
إدارةالمستودعات – Storage
المكتب الفني – Arts
إدارة شئون الجنائز – Funerals
إدارة خدمة المواطن – Citizen Services
إدارة مركز أنظمة المعلومات – Information “Systems” or “Structures” or something completely different.
إدارة شئون الموظفين – Employee Issues
إدارة تنمية المشاريع – Investment Growth
إدارة الإنشاءات – (Rec?) Creaction
إدارة التنظيم – Organization
إدارة شئون البيئة – Environment Issues
إدارة التخطيط والبحوث – Planning & Research
إدارة السلامة العامة – General Safety

Source: https://www.baladia.gov.kw/main-web/achieve/main.htm

I couldn’t figure them all out, but I hope this helps.

Mark, I know this image posted on this subject. I saw it sometime when when you were working on your Miskan project. You took this shot in Adan, just few hundreds of meters away from Sabah AL-Salem. Actually, I went there with my SLR-like camera back then to take similar shot. I failed to produce good quality as yours. It was just amazing how I relied on my memory to reach this exact traffic light. I didn’t have a tripod, I used a small table brought from my home to stabilize the camera 😛

You guys are getting 2000+MW of new electricity sometime next year. I’m coming over to help start it up in December/January timeframe. That should help a great deal since you only have about 10000MW of installed generation for the whole country. I did just read that this project may be delayed though. Hope that isn’t true.

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