Skopje today with a double cut - power and water at the same time, in different parts of the city. EVN announced - Volkovo in Gjorče Petrov without electricity from 9am to 2pm. Dolno Sonje in Sopište - from noon to 3pm. Vodovod added - parts of Čair and Karpoš without water from 9am.

The reason - routine maintenance. Vodovod is building or repairing parts of the water network. The first issue is on „Kosta Abrašević" street next to the „Hasan Priština" school - which affects part of Čair. The second - on „Partizanski odredi" boulevard in Karpoš.

According to the public utility „Vodovod i kanalizacija" - Skopje, „water supply will be normalised on completion of the works". That is the standard formula. What does it mean in practice? It depends on how the repair goes - it could be by noon, it could be by evening.

For residents in Čair and Karpoš - the advice from the institutions is the standard one. Fill bottles, run the dishwasher early, and do not expect to shower before noon. The same goes for parts of Gjorče Petrov and Sopište - no electricity, no washing dishes, no electric boiler.

The question residents have been asking for decades - why does the power cut and the water cut have to happen at the same time? Do the utilities not coordinate? Why can Vodovod never do repairs one week, EVN the next? And why do the announcements always come the day before, instead of one or two days in advance?

This is a story that repeats in Skopje every month. Residents have grown used to it. The institutions cite „routine maintenance". And nobody talks about the fact that many of these networks date back to socialist times - and need a systematic overhaul, not endless „maintenance work" that does not actually maintain anything.