Dozens of areas around Greece were hit by rolling blackouts late Thursday and early Friday as an ongoing strike by power sector workers over pension changes continued to sharply curtail electricity generation.
The power cuts, usually about two hours in duration, included parts of central Athens and Thessaloniki, the country's two largest cities.
Stoplights in both cities were also out of operation due to the power cuts, snarling traffic on some roads. While the fire department has received more than 1,000 calls for help in the past 24 hours, mainly from people trapped in elevators due to the power cuts.
Officials at grid operator Hellenic Transmission System Operator said some 19 power plants with a combined generating capacity of 4.9 gigawatts remain out of operation - 16 of them due to strike action.
Combined, the 19 power plants represents almost 40% total installed capacity of some 12.7 GW at Public Power Corporation SA (PPC.AT). PPC, the one-time monopoly, provides about 90% of Greece's electricity needs.
The strike, scheduled to continue through Wednesday, has also forced the HTSO, to sharply increase electricity imports from neighboring countries to cover peak demand periods.
Since being reelected in September last year, the center-right New Democracy government has been pushing to reform Greece's pension system and yesterday introduced its long-awaited legislation into parliament.
However, the reforms have engendered strong opposition from unions. Apart from power sector workers, bank employees and local government workers have also declared strikes for Friday, while umbrella unions GSEE and ADEDY have called a nationwide general strike March 19 to protest the reforms.