BAGHDAD: Sweat drips from Aqeel Hassan as he tinkers with a labyrinth of wires that connect 270 homes in Baghdad's sprawling Sadr City. It is a thankless job, but a crucial one amid another scorching heatwave.
His workplace is a humble shack right in front of his home, which comprises a bed, pigeons in a pen to keep him company and more than 200 colour-coded switches, running to a loud, humming diesel generator.
Hassan is the neighbourhood's generator handyman, whose job involves installing and repairing the wires and switches to make sure his generator keeps running smoothly.
The system supplies power to the homes in the block when the decrepit national grid breaks down, yet again. As summer temperatures sizzle above 50 degrees Celsius, residents are increasingly reliant on his supply.
"I don't have a start time when I clock in, I'm always on, 24 hours a day," the burly 42-year-old, whose arms are covered in tattoos of and saints, said. He says he just fell into the job of maintaining generators after the US invasion in 2003.
Iraq buys gas and power from neighbouring Iran to supply about a third of its energy sector, dilapidated by decades of conflict, poor maintenance and rampant corruption. But Iran decided last month to cut power supplies to its western neighbour, saying the Iraqi electricity ministry owes it more than $6 billion in arrears.
That has left the national electricity provider Wataniya unable to keep up with soaring demand from the country's 40 million people.
"Our generators are working overtime these days -- around 22 hours a day," Hassan said. Customers pay him to switch on his generator when the national grid fails. Although sometimes he says he provides electricity for free to the poorest.
"When electricity comes from the national grid, the alarm sounds and I go switch off the generator so it can rest."
His five-year-old son Muslim loves it when it is time to power down, and rushes to help his father who lifts him up to reach the highest switches.
Sadr City is the capital's most densely populated suburb with over one million low-income households tightly packed next to each other.
Named after the late scholar Ayatollah Mohamed Sadr, it is clear how revered he still is, with posters, banners and framed pictures of his powerful son Moqtada Sadr adorning every home.
There are 4.5 million privately-owned generators nationwide, estimates Harry Istepanian, a Washington-based independent energy consultant and senior fellow of Iraq Energy Institute. Each household spends "on average around $100-200 per month on electricity (which) is equivalent to a $6 to $10 billion business for privately-owned generators, but it neither contributes to the country's economy nor pays taxes," he said. - AFP
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