Part of Skopje is going without power today - and not because of a fault, but because of planned works on the power-distribution grid. The outages hit several neighbourhoods across the city, some for as long as six and a half hours, which on scorching July days is no small thing.

According to the published schedule, in Kisela Voda the streets Saša 2 and Dimo Hadžidimov are cut off, in Centar the stretch near the Olympic Village on Teodor Aleksandrov street loses supply from 8:30 to 15:00, and in Karpoš Vančo Micikov street. The longest outage runs up to six and a half hours.

The authorities are urging residents to plan their activities in advance around the announced windows, especially in buildings where power is essential for lifts, cooling and appliances. Sound advice on paper - but say that to someone on the eighth floor with no lift, or to a family with a small fridge full of food in the middle of July.

Planned grid works are necessary, and it's better they be done with notice than followed by sudden breakdowns. But the question that repeats every summer remains: how much longer will we put up with these hours-long outages as normal, and when will the grid be modern enough that whole neighbourhoods don't have to sit in the dark just to swap out a single cable?