Power outages

The power outages are back again. Last night I got home and it was out.
The power has been going out off and on since Saturday. Apparently now that it is cold and everyone is using space heaters (it is extremely rare to have central heating here) that is overwhelming the power supply again which is causing the outages. Even though we have rarely had any outages since October I kept my candles and matches stationed around the apartment and was ready to deal. I remember in September buying a big box of matches and thinking I would never get through them, now I'm thinking I just might end up having to buy more matches.
I'm actually kind of surprised that the space heaters are taking so much power; I wonder which uses more, an air conditioner or a space heater? I mean you rarely need them during the day except on foggy days and at night when you sleep they are usually off. It is probably just that most of them are so old that they aren't very energy efficient.
All I know is that the portable DVD player I bought here was my best purchase because now that the days are shorter if the power is out at 6 pm I can't read a book so I just pop in a DVD and watch it 'til the power comes back on (last night was Ocean's 13).
And I also think that the extreme heat this summer has had an effect on my internal temperature because it really does get cold here at night but I don't really mind...and I hate the cold. I think it is just that it was so insanely hot in the summer (imagine laying in your bed at midnight not moving and still you sweat - that hot) that as long as I'm not as uncomfortable as I was this summer, I'm okay. What can I say, this country does weird things to a person.
P.S. I just realized that today I have been here for 6 months. Crazy how time flies, huh.