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Iraq's power cuts show privilege of staying cool in a heatwave
(Reuters, 6 Jul 2021) As temperatures rise in Iraq, well-off residents can afford generators that crank into action when the national grid falters but others struggle to cope.
No strangers to temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit), Iraqis are adept at finding ways to stay cool in summer. But a spate of recent power cuts has exposed a deep divide between the heatwave haves and have-nots.
While relatively well-off residents of the capital, Baghdad, can afford generators that crank into action when the national grid falters, others have been struggling to cope without air-conditioning, fridges and electric fans for days.
Government employee Sadiq Sadkan pays about $200 per month to access a generator supplying his middle-class neighbourhood during blackouts, which worsen amid surging summer demand.
"I've got a gold standard subscription to a private generator, which works 24 hours a day ... it can turn on any time of the day," Sadkan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from his home.
When at work in the national parliament, Sadkan also enjoys round-the-clock electricity in his office, meaning the air-conditioning whirrs all day and the water cooler stays chilled.
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Reuters, 6 Jul 2021: Iraq's power cuts show privilege of staying cool in a heatwave
