Programmed power outages lasting up to three hours a day have plagued Chile since November, product of disputes between government authorities and energy companies, and aggravated by reduced hydroelectric generation during the worst dry spell in 50 years.
Chilean businesses lose millions of dollars every day when power cuts hit the nation.
Human costs have included deaths of patients on life-saving medical equipment, a rash of household accidents due to outages, and the postponement of emergency operations in hospitals. On June 2, President Eduardo Frei signed a new Electricity Law, giving regulatory bodies stronger legal tools to oversee the entire electricity generating and distribution system in Chile. The new regulations provide increased compensation to electricity users affected by cuts, as well as higher fines for power companies that fail to provide proper supply. However, the threat of daily power cuts still hangs over the 90 percent of the nation's electricity users who are served by the constantly faltering Central Interconnected System power grid. An unexpected three-hour outage left users in the dark during Chile's first presidential primary elections, on May 30.