Residents across Kuwait are urging the government to improve communication and ensure public safety as scheduled power cuts continue to disrupt daily life. These power outages, rolled out by the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy, are part of a national strategy to manage rising energy loads and conduct pre-summer maintenance.
Despite the ministry’s efforts to alert the public via social media, many citizens report inconsistencies between the announced schedules and actual blackout times. This communication gap has led to confusion and safety risks, especially in neighborhoods such as Jabriya and Hawally.
Similarly, Anwr, another social media user, advised residents to monitor the ministry’s Instagram stories for last-minute updates. “They keep posting changes to areas not listed in the official outage schedule. It’s chaotic.”
In Hawally, Mohamed Nageh described a recent incident where the outage lasted much longer than expected. “It was supposed to be two hours, but we were without power for the entire day,” he said. “Some residents were trapped in elevators, and without a backup generator, we had to manually force the doors open.”
The Kuwait Fire Force has repeatedly warned residents not to use elevators during scheduled outages. They have also emphasized that attempting to open elevator doors without professional help poses significant danger. Nevertheless, in prolonged outages, residents say they feel they have no choice.
Therefore, power outage preparedness has become a growing concern for families, especially those with vulnerable members or essential medical devices.
Officials must act swiftly to restore public confidence and ensure that power outage preparedness becomes a central part of Kuwait’s energy management plan.
