Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela will impose conservation measures for water and electricity because the El Nino weather pattern has reduced rainfall, affecting hydroelectric stations and drinking-water reservoirs.

The country will distribute 50 million energy-saving light bulbs, ban the import of products that use excessive amounts of electricity and increase electricity charges for heavy users, President Hugo Chavez said late yesterday on state television. He decreed the creation of a new electricity ministry and promised to speed up the construction of power plants.

“Save energy to the maximum. Turn off the light, buddy. Don’t leave the TV on,” Chavez said. “We’re going to create a real saving campaign.”

Chavez is trying to head off possible political fallout from power disruptions, which have become more common in recent years as growing energy use outstripped expansion in the nation’s generation and transmission network.

Water levels in reservoirs on the Caroni River, which generate 70 percent of the country’s electricity, are “near the alert level,” Chavez said.

Government departments must cut power use by 20 percent immediately, Chavez said. State-owned oil, aluminum and steel companies must “rationalize” their electric use, he said.

CVG Electrificacion del Caroni CA, or Edelca, which provides power to the aluminum, iron, steel, coal, and bauxite industries, used 19 percent of the country’s energy in August, Venezuela’s electricity grid operator said in its most recent monthly report.

Nationalizations

Chavez nationalized several utilities companies in 2007 including Electricidad de Caracas in a bid to increase state control over the economy and to reverse a privatization drive from the 1990s.

“The government neglected the power grid and now are running to fix it as demand continues to grow,” said Ricardo Sucre, a professor of political science at Central University of Venezuela in Caracas. “They’ve also made investment promises that haven’t been fulfilled.”

Hidrocapital, Caracas’s water utility, will reduce supply by 25 percent, from 400 liters (105.5 gallons) per person to 300 liters, until May when rains usually return, Alejandro Hitcher, the utility’s president, said earlier on state television.

El Nino

“We’re in an El Nino cycle,” Hitcher said yesterday. “It’s the driest year in the last 40.”

The country’s electricity consumption has risen by an average 4.3 percent in the past 12 months, according to data from the National Administration Center, the electricity grid operator also known as CNG.

Consumption declined in 2007 and 2008 as a Cuban-led conservation effort handed out 78 million compact fluorescent lamps in exchange for more energy-hungry incandescent bulbs.

Venezuela secured $800 million from the Inter-American Development Bank for the construction of a hydroelectric complex on the Caroni River, Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said on Oct. 20.

The IADB, as the Washington-based lender is known, previously provided $750 million for the project and $200 million for electricity-grid upgrades. The cost of the hydroelectric complex will be about $4.3 billion.

Wasting electricity or water “is a crime,” he said. He called on people to take three-minute showers and not wait for water to warm up before bathing.

“There are people who sing in the shower for a half an hour. No kid, three minutes is enough,” Chavez said. “They tell me there are people who wait for the water to warm up, why? They turn on the tap and leave the water running - potable water. It’s a crime.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Bodzin in Caracas at sbodzin@bloomberg.net; Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 22, 2009 13:53 EDT