
Inside the haywire world of Beirut’s electricity brokers - sygma
https://www.wired.com/story/beruit-electricity-brokers/
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pboutros
I grew up in a village 20 minutes outside of Beirut. We had 3 different power
sources: (1) the 'baladiye' (local municipality), (2) the 'dawle' (regional
government), and (3) the diesel generator by our house.

Between those 3, we averaged 8-20 hours of electricity per day, but that was
out in the mountains. "UPS" to me still means "Uninterrupted Power Supply" \--
a battery box connected to my desktop so that I could save my files and shut
down quickly when the power went out.

People who lived on the same power grid as hospitals were typically the
luckiest -- they had (almost entirely) uninterrupted power. I have no idea how
you're supposed to have a modern economy these days without reliable internet,
let alone access to cheap communications (which Lebanon also doesn't have).

~~~
pboutros
Also, @Wired:

>Raham, like other operators, complains about repair costs; under-the-table
operating fees—essentially, bribes—to the local municipalities in which they
operate; the unpaid bills by some of the country's Syrian and Egyptian
refugees who are using an estimated additional 486 megawatts; and the
increasing cost of diesel fuel to run the generators.

I think you mean Palestinian?

~~~
danielvf
Syria is in the middle of a civil war, and borders most of Lebanon - it's
estimated there are a 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrians_in_Lebanon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrians_in_Lebanon)

~~~
weber111
Yes.. GP is correcting _Egyptian_ to Palestinian

