CACACAS: As a prolonged drought affects reservoirs that feed Venezuela’s hydroelectric plants, it is considering reducing electrity usage by switching time zones.

“If the drought problem gets worse, we will be forced to resort to anything that allows us to save water to generate electricity, so for the moment I do not rule out changing the time zone,” said Angel Rodriguez, Venezuela’s electricity minister, in an interview with Union Radio.

Rodriguez also called on the private sector to save electricity in an effort to keep reservoirs at a “comfortable” level until May, when the next major rains are expected.

The government of President Hugo Chavez has said severe electricity shortages are the result of the drought and wasteful electricity usage, but critics blame the administration for mismanaging water resources and say there has been too little investment in the electricity sector.

Last week, the country’s government announced it would ration power supplies, including to the private sector and commercial centers, in a bid to cut consumption by 20 per cent and avoid blackouts or price increases. In 2008, Venezuela moved back half an hour, 4.5 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time.