Iraq power generation finally hits pre-invasion levels

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq is now producing as much power as it did on the eve of the US-led invasion of 2003 but is still meeting barely 50 percent of peak demand, a senior electricity ministry official said.

"2008 is the first year when production has reached the level prior to that of Saddam Hussein's fall," the ministry's operations and control chief Adel Mahdi told AFP in an interview. "But we still need much more."

Current production stands at 5,302 megawatts, virtually the same as the 2002 level of 5,305 MW, Mahdi said.

But demand has risen sharply over the same period, forcing the ministry to continue rationing domestic supply. The average household still receives just six hours of power a day from the national grid.

Whereas peak demand in 2002...