There is a way a person will talk about electricity issues, you would be able to guess which country they are from. This is exactly my kind of situation, I don't even need to mention the name of my country before people can guess perfectly which country I'm from, it is quite fascinating to be able to guess a person's country from their country's unique issue.
Electricity challenges here is no longer something considered an issue but a culture. A way of life we have been used to, inherited from our predecessors. My country has been battling with all manner of electricity issues even before I was born and from looks of it, it might still be here when I'm gone. That is how constant the electricity issues we are battling in my country is.
Having to experience 24hrs power supply is like a fictional tale, though I have lived in areas where we had good electricity supply but it didn't last for 24hrs, it will definitely appear the next day but you see maintaining the 24hrs status quo is never there.
In most part of my country, the most prominent structure of electricity distribution is one day off - one day on. Which means while area A is having electricity today, area B would not and while area B is having electricity, area A would not. And in worst case scenario, both areas might not even have at all.
Electricity distributors in my country have turn the entire place into a circus show and they are not the only clowns performing in this show, we also have the external players called cable & transformer thieves. These ones are the invisible clowns, the almighty nightwalker. They perform their unique disappearing acts on transformers and electrical cables, it is their profound calling.
Just few weeks ago, our neighbouring street transformer armoured cable got stolen and a week after that it happened in another street close to us, ever since then we have been on high alert. We have built some kind of mini electric fence around our transformer but the annoying irony is, we still need electricity to power the electric fence.
Our CDA chairman brought the suggestion of using solar energy to power the electric fence but no one is buying the idea. I mean it sounds really ridiculous to be using solar power to protect a transformer that was meant to be supplying electricity in the first place.
I'm just grateful for the introduction of the prepaid meter, before it, electrical distributors really did a lot of people dirty by giving them crazy bills. If you see the amount some people have accumulated in their meter, it is enough to buy a land. Right now, everyone is just trying to find an alternative power supply while we hope for the best.
This write-up was inspired by week 30 SciFi multiverse prompt titled "Electricity supply" in SciFi multiverse community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - Source
