Chavez's New Appeal to Venezuelans: Save Energy

A nation built atop a sea of energy is struggling to keep the lights on.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greets supporters before the 2008 Liberator Prize for Critical...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greets supporters before the 2008 Liberator Prize for Critical Thinking award ceremony, granted to Hungarian-born British professor and philosopher Istvan Meszaros, in Caracas on September 14, 2009. President Hugo Chavez's government began taking over management of a Hilton-run hotel on Venezuela's Margarita Island on Wednesday.

(Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images)

Demonstrators angrily brandish surge-damaged blenders, televisions and stereos outside the offices of Venezuela's state utility company. Others burn electricity bills in the streets to protest recurring blackouts.

A record drought and years of poor planning have made blackouts and water shortages an increasingly frequent fact of life in much of oil-rich Venezuela, prompting protests that have President Hugo Chavez scrambling for answers.

The leftist leader is using his near daily televised speeches to urge Venezuelans to turn down their air conditioners and abandon their swimming pools. He's even lectured the country on the bracing virtues of a cold, three-minute shower.

Chavez has sprung into action in the past week, announcing a contingency plan to conserve electricity and appointing a new Cabinet minister to oversee the electrical sector. Chavez says rationing may be in order and he'll set an example by turning down the air conditioning and turning off more lights at the presidential palace.

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Wasting electricity is "a crime," the president says, and on Sunday he warned shopping malls that they use too much power and should no longer rely on a cheap supply. "They're going to have to buy their generator, and if not I'll cut off their power," he said.

The socialist leader blamed part of the predicament on wealthy Venezuelans who have swimming pools, wash their cars compulsively and have a TV set in every room. "Those who waste the most are the rich," he said.

A poll published Tuesday by the newspaper El Universal said Chavez's popularity had slipped, with 46 percent of those surveyed expressing a positive opinion about his presidency, compared to 53 percent a month earlier.

Pollster Luis Vicente Leon, of the Caracas-based firm Datanalisis, said the result appeared linked mainly to concerns about the economy and other factors that included growing complaints about the power and water problems — which appeared for the first time in the poll as a combined 6 percent named electricity or water when asked about the nation's top problem.