The Ministry of Electricity and Water(MEW) received nearly 15,000 calls last week reporting power outages and water supply disconnection across different places in Kuwait, a local daily reported yesterday.

“The [ministry’s] center for receiving consumers’ inquiries and complaints on the hotline number 152, received nearly 15,000 last week, which is the largest number since the center’s inception,” said sources.

The number reportedly stood at 7,300 by the end of Monday, but climbed to 15,000 by the end of the week. “The soaring temperatures which sometimes exceeds 50 C degrees has led to increase in demand on electricity and water, which resulted in overload on transformers that caused the blackouts,” sources explained.

The MEW ran a comprehensive maintenance operation before the beginning of June to prepare transformers and distribution cables in Kuwait for the summer. The ministry’s plan failed to fully prevent disconnection in electricity and water supply due to temperatures exceeding normal rates combined with high consumption during Ramadan, according to sources.

Maintenance teams are put on high alert for immediate response to reported disconnection incident and repair faults as soon as possible, the sources added. Soaring temperatures and high humidity resulted in electricity consumption rates breaking records in July, amidst concern that demand will continue to soar with around two weeks remaining until the end of Ramadan.

According to reports published by the local press a few days ago, a new record has been set on July 15, 2012 when it reached 11,610 megawatts, breaking the previous record of 11,400 megawatts recorded on June 18, 2012.

According to a ministry insider, high consumption has resulted to the overload responsible for multiple blackouts reported in Kuwait since the beginning of Ramadan. Kuwait has been struggling for years to maintain enough electricity and water supply to meet demand that usually peaks at two times of the year; the period between July and August when temperatures reach their highest records, and during Ramadan.

Keeping in mind that the two periods are coinciding this year, the ministry took measures to keep the local electricity production level well over the 12,000 megawatts a day barrier throughout the summer.

These efforts include operating the Subiya power plant which uses a new gas turbines technology developed by General Electric, with its full capacity to produce atleast 2,000 megawatts a day.

In other news, the Central Tenders Committee has reportedly informed the MEW to ‘reconsider’ a project to install photovoltaic panels on top of the MEW and Ministry of Public Works buildings due to “incomplete data on awarding procedures,” Al-Jarida reported yesterday, quoting sources with knowledge of the deal.

The project would supply the MEW and MPW buildings with electricity through solar energy. It is considered the beginning of a larger project through which the government hopes to utilize renewable energy to feed government buildings with power.