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I grew up in a village 20 minutes outside of Beirut. We had 3 different power sources: (1) the 'baladiye' (local municipality), (2) the 'dawle' (regional government), and (3) the diesel generator by our house.

Between those 3, we averaged 8-20 hours of electricity per day, but that was out in the mountains. "UPS" to me still means "Uninterrupted Power Supply" -- a battery box connected to my desktop so that I could save my files and shut down quickly when the power went out.

People who lived on the same power grid as hospitals were typically the luckiest -- they had (almost entirely) uninterrupted power. I have no idea how you're supposed to have a modern economy these days without reliable internet, let alone access to cheap communications (which Lebanon also doesn't have).

Also, @Wired:

>Raham, like other operators, complains about repair costs; under-the-table operating fees—essentially, bribes—to the local municipalities in which they operate; the unpaid bills by some of the country's Syrian and Egyptian refugees who are using an estimated additional 486 megawatts; and the increasing cost of diesel fuel to run the generators.

I think you mean Palestinian?

> People who lived on the same power grid as hospitals were typically the luckiest

This is true in the developed world too.

I understand that the UK charges higher electricity fees if you have double redundant feeds to your residence.