UPDATE: Power Restored To Most Of Caracas After Power Outage
CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela suffered its fifth major blackout Thursday as large swaths of Caracas were left without electricity until power was restored by the state-owned utility company.
Javier Alvaro, head of the capital's power utility company, told state television that the outage lasted only minutes and that power was quickly restored to most of Caracas.
The cause of the blackout was a disruption in the electric network that connects Caracas to the nation's power grid, Alvaro said.
In one of the major business areas in Caracas, the power outage lasted close to 45 minutes before electricity was restored.
There were no immediate reports of disruptions for the country's oil industry. Refineries in Venezuela are usually equipped with emergency power generators.
Power outages this year have become a recurrent headache for the government, which has responded by blaming the private sector for lack of investment in the country's power grid before President Hugo Chavez nationalized Electricidad de Caracas, the capital's power utility company, last year.
After a nationwide outage in October, the government accused some power utility workers of sabotaging the system to undermine Chavez's popularity.
The president has also pledged to invest billions of dollar to modernize the country's grid.
-By Darcy Crowe, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 212 905 6304; darcy.crowe@dowjones.com
Publié le 11 Décembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones
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