In Baghdad, power to - and from - the people

Every few hours, when the lights go out along his block in the Baghdad suburb of Saydia, Shehab Abu Ahmed marches out of his tiny shack at the top of his street, thumbs his nose at the capital's largest power plant, and fires up his massive 125-kilovolt generator. Within seconds, the power comes back on along his street, one house at a time.

"We have 35 houses connected so far," Mr. Abu Ahmed says. "And more are signing up every day."

Amid one of the worst power crunches Baghdad has ever seen, small-time power generators like Abu Ahmed and his partners have made a business of lighting up the darkness left by Iraq's faulty national grid.

Over the past several months, hundreds of entrepreneurs have installed massive rumbling generators along sidewalks and on city streets, and strung up hundreds of colorful wires along city blocks, all to fill in when the system fails.

"It's like night and day," says Mohammed Sabri, one of Shehab's customers. "We can run a fridge, freezer, TV, and two swamp coolers. It makes our whole ordeal just a bit more bearable."

The idea is nothing new to Iraqi entrepreneurs. Ever since the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq's outlying areas were left with a net power deficit as Saddam Hussein began diverting electricity to Baghdad. In towns like Mosul, Nasiriyah, and Basra, one-man power companies became the lifeblood for most communities.

It's not necessarily a cheap solution, however. Most power brokers operate on the same basic model: For a monthly fee, residents can purchase enough electricity to run most lights and basic appliances. Residents typically pay about $2 to $3 for each amp they use per month. In most locales, the operators run their generators up to four hours at a time, enough to ride out the intermittent power outages.

Ammar Jaber and his in-laws seized on the opportunity in April, shortly after Baghdad fell. They headed up to Mosul, bought a monstrous generator for about $2,000 from one of the local power producers there, and installed it in their neighborhood.

Today, they supply more than 1,000 customers in their largely Christian neighborhood, including several storefronts that buy power during the day, and apartments that buy it by night.

Mr. Jaber and three of his brothers now sell power for $2.50 to $3 per amp. They spend about $1,000 on diesel and maintenance per month, earning close to $3,000.

"This is a good business, but a tiring business," says Jaber. "You have to have a lot of patience to run it."

The four family members manage the mini power plant day and night, taking turns at the generator. A mechanic is also always on hand to ensure proper operation.

When things go wrong, customers are quick to let them know.

"What's most important for us is making people comfortable," Jaber notes. "That keeps them away."

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