By: Peter Jančič (Spletni časopis)
The monitor suddenly went dark, the light went out, and all other devices as well. Including the electric heater with which I was additionally warming the room.
When I found the battery-powered lamp, which I always keep on the table due to bad experiences with the state energy of Robert Golob, I went to check if the fuses in the house had blown. That would be good. I push the switch up, and that is it. But that was not the problem. I looked outside. All neighbouring houses were in darkness, streetlights went out. And this all the way to the lookout tower of General Rudolf Maister tower – Vojanov a few kilometres away in Zavrh. At least three settlements. The tower is in the photo from the summer, when President Borut Pahor was there at a ceremony in memory of a great man who often vacationed here.
The power outage is not happening for the first time. It is usual in these areas. The supply is unreliable. But usually, there are issues when there is some bad weather. Problems could arise even if there was a lot of snow. None of that happened. There was much more snow in Ljubljana. In the morning, when we were leaving Ljubljana, the car was so frozen that the door to the back seats could not be opened. In Styria, there was considerably less snow. Near the lookout tower near Zavrh, there was barely enough for cross-country skiing. But it was sunny. For vitamin D. Throughout the day. It supposedly helps against COVID. So says the prime minister. When there is still electricity. This is what it looked like in front of the house.
When we arrived a little after noon, the thermometer in the house showed three degrees. By evening, the central heating had warmed the building to almost bearable 14 degrees. Outside, when the lights went out, it was already dropping to minus 10. If there is no electricity, it means the central heating has gone out. The air conditioners in the house do not help. Even the electric radiator quickly started cooling. Solar collectors on the roof, due to frozen snow, had not been heating water earlier.
We tried to find out what was happening from Elektro Maribor. But as usual, when the power goes out, they do not pick up the phone. Too many calls from angry people. I assume. There are no explanations either. The internet, using mobile phones, still works. And as a journalist, I know how to search. From the screen, when the electricity went out, the column about the government’s elimination of media pluralism disappeared, which should have been finished by midnight. But that was the smallest problem; the system in which I work saves everything. It is ready for the Slovenian energy situation. The house, not so much. Because a storm in the summer knocked down some hundred-year-old beech trees in the forest, and because there is often a power outage, I have been thinking for some time about building a wood stove in the house that my parents built for work in vineyards, orchards, with a press, and a wine cellar. This would allow us to at least keep warm. Although burning wood, which may seem romantic to some, involves a lot of work and cleaning. I have not bought one yet. Fool.
Moreover, the government plans to ban the use of solid fuels, albeit for now only in new buildings in compact settlements. Fools. What can a person do when the electricity goes out again, especially in areas where houses are not tightly packed next to each other but are close by? To add another detail: it usually goes out in the other part of the property, where there is a three-phase connection and water pumping stations. The reason the supply is unreliable is that materials age over the years, trees in the forests grow, and the maintenance of the country is poor.
Since we are in these areas like Rudolf Maister – Vojanov for a short time, but I have worked here a lot in the summer when the workplace in Ljubljana was completely unusable due to a fire in the building, we have a solution.
With battery-powered flashlights, because after half an hour, there is still no sign that civilisation is coming back, we reluctantly pack up, throw things in the car, and head towards Ljubljana.
We do not take the shortest route to the highway; it could be dangerous downhill on snowy and icy slopes. We choose a slightly longer but more trafficked route passing the tower, Voličina, and Šetarova. At Šetarova, the car’s gauge shows below -10.
To be fair, good work has been done by the road workers, who are often criticised by people these days. The parking lot in Novi Jarše was icy and snowy, but the highway to Styria was completely cleared, and the journey back in quite cold weather with some fog was safe and pleasant enough.
Some less organised were the bus stops, there near Celje, which brought some joy as we observed the advantages of a large BMW with rear-wheel drive. The wheels happily spun in vain. It took quite some time for it to move. And there was not much snow. With the help of hands pushing, of course.
In Slovenske gorice, they also cleared the roads, which there rise steeply into the hills and where, once upon a time, when we still had a lot of snow, winter chains were necessary, and probably even a tractor. This time, the roads were completely cleared. However, there was much less snow than in Ljubljana. Which probably helps.
I finished the column in Ljubljana by midnight, where district heating works, and there was electricity. And where the understanding of what a solid fuel stove means when it is freezing outside and the electricity goes out again, in a state-owned company that takes care of it, is completely different.
There is not much information in the media about where electricity has run out. Everything is great here. We learn more from Russia, where, due to severe cold, even worse problems are occurring.