Chavez lifts power rationing in Venezuela

CARACAS, VENEZUELA - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the end of electricity rationing that has damaged the economy and led to rolling blackouts.

The recent arrival of seasonal rains restored output from a crucial hydroelectric dam. Chavez's administration imposed the rationing earlier this year as a drought drove water levels to precarious lows in the dam that supplies most of the country's power.

Chavez said that is no longer necessary because water levels have returned to safe levels behind the Guri dam and because the government has increased power-generating capacity.

"We have overcome the serious electrical crisis," Chavez said on state television, but he urged Venezuelans to continue to conserve electricity. He said a presidential commission had recommended lifting rationing, saying such measures could be reinstituted in the future if necessary.

He said reduced workdays in some government offices — one of the measures taken to save energy — will end on July 30.

Chavez also said power will be gradually restored to state-run steel and aluminum plants, where production was partially shut down to save energy.

Earlier this week, the government said it would extend Chavez's declaration of an emergency in the electrical sector until August.

The government has also been setting up new thermoelectric plants and making other upgrades to remedy deficiencies in the system.

In addition to rolling blackouts, officials meted out fines for those who did not comply with reduced usage rules.

Chavez said that the rationing had a negative impact on the economy, which contracted 5.8 percent during the first quarter of this year.