The lights are on in Aden at least for most of the day. The apparently mundane detail is a huge difference for people in the southern Yemeni port city, which for years has suffered from extensive electricity blackouts, and a sign that something has changed. It was noticeable enough for Saleh Taher, who lives in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to comment on after making a recent visit to Aden.
Energia, which has 300,000 customers in this country, is set to hike its prices just as the colder weather sets in. It is the third supplier this year to increase customer costs. The energy supplier recently paid a €40m dividend to its investment fund owners. From October 9, Energia electricity customers will be hit with a 10.9pc increase. This will work out at a rise of €205 a year on the average bill.
"I think this is one of those key moments that is extremely upsetting and yet super predictable, which is that the energy planning and the poor decisions that get made five, eight years prior to that now are starting to show up in those supply mixes."
"It felt like chaos, said Inigo, a doctor at a hospital in northern Spain. With no electricity from noon on Monday, the building's emergency generators were kept for the critical areas, leaving staff without access to patient data, broken communications due to no telephone signal or email, and colleagues unable to carry out some of their duties."
