1 The government said Saturday it will ask the United States to help battle an electricity shortage that has reduced working hours, curtailed transportation and even trimmed television broadcasts.
2 Public Works Minister Rodolfo Terragno, who is traveling in the United States, is to meet with U.S. energy officials on Tuesday in Washington, the state-owned news agency Telam said in a communique.
3 Terragno also will seek World Bank financing to accelerate the completion of a large thermoelectric station in Bahia Blanca, 418 miles southwest of Buenos Aires.
4 There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy.
5 A month ago, the government took steps to curtail electricity consumption, including rotating power cuts of up to six hours a day, reduced street lighting, and cutbacks in the hours of operation of subways and television stations.
6 Even clocks were set ahead by one hour.
7 Hundreds of thousands of state workers were given Friday and Monday off with pay as government offices closed in response to temperatures in the mid 90s and lack of air conditioners.
8 The government attributes the situation to drought, which lowered water levels in the rivers that feed Argentina's hydroelectric projects; and to equipment breakdowns at several fossil fuel power stations.
9 Also, the smaller of the country's two commercial nuclear reactors is out of service.
10 Carlos Menem, the opposition Peronist Party's candidate for president, attributes the situation to the government's 'lack of foresight, the lack of responsibility and lack of ability to manage the energy sector that is so important.'
11 The Department of Energy calculated two weeks ago that of a total installed capacity of 12,118 megawatts, the national power grid was producing only 2,500 kilowatts.
12 The situation has wreaked havoc with daily life.
13 The stock exchange suspended operations briefly last Thursday, newspapers have missed press runs, people have been stranded in elevators, sections of the capital are without water due to the shutdown of electric pumps.
14 'We are really close to a blackout,' the president of the state-run electric utility Segba, Pablo Caravelli, said.

Terragno also will seek World Bank financing to accelerate the completion of a large thermoelectric station in Bahia Blanca , 418 miles southwest of Buenos Aires .
Bahia Blanca ,
is it a small town?