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Never-ending electricity crisis means lights out for Iraqis, again

Power outages have become a commonplace happening in Iraq, where people now depend on more than one source to substitute for the government’s poor services.
An electrician uses an Avometer to check wires connected to his local generator on a street in Baghdad, December 13, 2011. Iraq's financial system is slowly embracing the free market after years of tight control under Saddam; a fledging stock market is attracting foreign money while the banking and telecommunications industries are growing rapidly. But the national grid provides only a few hours of intermittent power a day, forcing Iraqis to live off noisy diesel-fueled generators. Picture taken December 13
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BABIL, Iraq — Electricity generators have often saved Iraqis from summer temperatures that can reach 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). Yet, they have also become a symbol for Iraqis suffering a lack of basic services, especially electricity. Generators have also become evidence that the government has failed to supply sufficient electricity.

One of the most notable plans was the Ministry of Electricity’s announcement in April 2013 that 2015 would witness an end to the electricity crisis and that the next year’s summer is set to become better than the ones that preceded it in terms of electricity. However, such promises have come to naught.

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