Iraq will need at least three years before it is able to satisfy current electricity demand, the U.S. general charged with the military's reconstruction efforts in the Middle East said Tuesday.

But Brigadier General Kendall Cox acknowledged that his projection was based on present levels of demand, which continue to rise as Iraqis purchase more consumer goods for their homes such as refrigerators and air conditioners.

His comments come about two months after a series of violent protests kicked off in several cities over a massive shortfall in mains-supplied electricity, seven years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

"Probably 2013, 2014 would be the earliest that I think they would be able to have a shot at generating enough power, with the requisite distribution and transmission capability, to have some sort of sustained, close to, 24 hours [a day] of power," Cox told reporters at a briefing in Baghdad.

"That's...based on current demands," he said, adding that "even as they continue to increase the megawatts that they bring online, simultaneously they are increasing their demand."

Cox is commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Division, which handles USACE projects in the Central Command area, stretching from Egypt to central Asia .

He estimated that current demand for electricity in Iraq was between 12,000 and 14,000 megawatts, with supply at just over 6,000 MW.

On Aug. 21, dozens of Iraqis violently protested in the southern city of Nasiriyah to demand better power supplies, wounding 16 people including 10 policemen.

The protest was reminiscent of demonstrations in June in several other cities over power rationing amid summer heat when temperatures hit 54 degrees Celsius.

Only those with access to their own generators and fuel have been able to refrigerate foodstuffs or air-condition their homes around the clock, while others have been rendered helpless in the oppressive summer heat, triggering the protests.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose electricity minister resigned in the wake of the protests, warned in June that two more years of shortages lay ahead as there was no quick fix to the problem.

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