Forced to deal with an aging, poorly maintained electricity infrastructure, ongoing insurgent attacks on gas and transmission lines, and the ever-increasing demand of Iraqis, Iraq still averages only about 13 hours of electricity a day nationwide, with only six hours on average in Baghdad, the country's largest population center, according to U.S. officials. Iraqis consider the lack of power to be among their most serious problems, especially during the summer, when temperatures can top 120 degrees.

Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Saddam Hussein's government routed power to Baghdad, which received 18 to 24 hours of electricity a day while the rest of the country received two to four hours. Since then, Iraq's electricity generation capacity has increased from 2,500 megawatts to about 5,000 megawatts, but attacks and breakdowns have kept another 3,500 megawatts offline.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3860926.html