By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli and Beida, 25 April 2015:
Tripoli has been hit . . .[restrict]by extensive power cuts in the last 36 hours with GECOL, the state electricity company, warning that more blackouts are in the offing.
The outages are being blamed on damage to transformers and cabling caused by fighting to the west of the capital. The loss of power has also widely affected water supplies, knocking out pumps on the Man-Made River, Tripoli’s principle source of water. The cuts are also impacting mobile phone and internet coverage.
GECOL said today that it was struggling to distribute loads to ensure that all areas received some electricity. It asked both domestic and industrial consumers to help ease demand by cutting back on their power use. It said the cuts were ranging from six to eight hours but some residents have been complaining that they have been without electricity for more than ten hours.
The situation is hardly better in Beida, where the government is based. There are daily cuts of up to four hours, though one local noted that this was an improvement on the problem in January, when the crowded town had to do without power for between six and seven hours every day.
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