Anatomy of a Blackout Politics and controversial trading contracts complicate the country's electricity situationIn October of 2005, with a cold winter approaching, Albanians witnessed a terrible series of blackouts that left the country with only 10 hours of electricity a day. The country had the money for much of the power, but problems between government, an antiquated network and energy buyers proved that parts of southeast Europe lack a reliable energy industry. Albania relies almost exclusively on dams to generate electricity and as the fall approached, Albania's rivers were low. The state electrical company Korporata Elektroenergjetike Shqiptare (KESh) predicted it would face a serious power shortfall of 600 GWh for the last two months of the year – the energy needed to run 400,000 of Albania's 700,000 households.