The 80s remained in the memory of Romanians as a period marked by severe restrictions, including regarding electricity and hot water. To reduce consumption and pay off the foreign debt, the communist regime imposed energy rationing, and blackouts became a common experience for millions of people.
The TVR 2 star Marina Almășan, the soloist George Rotaru and the producer of Radio ZU Răzvan Popescu spoke for Click! how they lived those moments and how Romanians tried to adapt to life in the dark.
Marina Almașan was listening to Europa Libera on a battery-operated radio
Marina Almașan remembers that power outages and lack of hot water were part of everyday life. For her, however, being a morning person allowed her to do many of her activities before power outages.
“Yes, of course, we also got blackouts of electricity and hot water, my luck is that, being extremely early in the morning, all the activities were done on light”, the TVR 2 star told.
When the lights went out, the family gathered and the children were questioned by their parents. At the same time, the family listened, with the help of a battery-powered radio, to the broadcasts of the Europa Liberă station.
“When the power went out, the family socialized, we kids were questioned, the parents made plans and we all secretly listened to the free Europe show on a battery-powered radio. Although if you put your ear to any of the apartments in the block, it sounded pretty much the same!”, the star declared for Click!
Răzvan Popescu: “Right when the drawings start, the current is gone!”
Răzvan Popescu was 10 years old in 1989 and says that many of his memories from that time are unclear. However, he remembers power outages very well.
“However, I know that the power went out, when the world was dearer to you. I remember that, one Saturday, at noon, I was impatiently waiting for TVR’s “Gala desenelon animate” to start”, told the producer of Radio ZU.
On one of the days, the power went out just before the show started. To ease his disappointment, his father turned on a radio on batteries and found the TVR frequency, so that Răzvan Popescu could at least listen to the voices of his favorite characters.
“Better this way than nothing” he recalled.
George Rotaru: “I was left in the dark on stage”
Romance singer George Rotaru says power outages were not only affecting home life, but also performances. The artist remembers that he ended up singing several times without a microphone, in the dark.
“Oh, how many times I stayed in the dark, and at home, but also at performances, on stage. You had nothing to do, I sang without a microphone, in the dark. That’s how those times were. I was tired of the cold, of hunger, everything was on rations”, said the artist.
After the Revolution of 1989, at the age of 37, George Rotaru decided to go to the United States, where he still lives and gives concerts. However, the artist says that he periodically returns to Romania.
How much energy a family could consume
The restrictions were not limited to power outages. The communist regime had also set consumption quotas for electricity and natural gas, and exceeding them could attract much higher tariffs.
For a two-room apartment, for example, the monthly electricity quota was set at 30 kWh from November to February and at 20 kWh the rest of the year.
And the consumption of natural gas was strictly limited. In the case of a two-room apartment, the quota reached 140 cubic meters in December and February and 170 cubic meters in January, while in the summer months it fell below 30 cubic meters.
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