Deprived of electricity for several weeks, 26-year-old Erges Alite appeared on television this week to demonstrate how, by using a transformer and a car battery, he was able to run his television and some household lighting.

"The transformer cost me 120 euros (140 dollars) and has maximum power of 300 watts, which is just enough to allow a television set and two small lamps to function," said Alite.

"It is less expensive than a generator, less noisy and much cleaner," he told local television, adding that he had received hundreds of telephone calls from people asking him how to set up their own such electricity supply.

Albania's energy crisis worsened this week and authorities announced tough new measures to avoid the threat of a complete halt to the supply of electricity.

The energy crisis has been caused by a drought of several months which has paralysed hydroelectric power plants and forced authorities to limit the supply of electricity during the day.

Shortages have also caused an increase in the price of oil, gas and transportation.

"The country is on the edge of asphyxiation," Luan Bregasi of Albania's Chamber of Commerce said recently, estimating that the crisis would cost the private sector more than 800 million dollars (677 million euros).

Due to spiralling production costs, several textile factories and bakeries declared that they would have to shut down their local operations.

Two companies in the southern town of Korca also said that they were relocating to neighbouring Macedonia.

The situation is even having an impact on emergency services in the country, where doctors at times are being forced to finish surgical operations under flickering candle-light, according to Adem Vata, the director of a private clinic in the northern town of Kruja.

"But it is impossible to conduct radiographies with candles or to sterilise equipment, to preserve blood and vaccines," said another official as a queue of patients grew in front of the clinic.

The noise of generators that release thick blue smoke have become a familiar sound in many Albanian towns.

Some companies are even using coal-powered generators, bringing back to life a solid fuel popular in the early 20th century.

Shortages and power cuts have brought back memories of the communist era when Albanians, living in an isolated country, were forced to depend on ingenious measures to maintain links with the outside world.

Under the dictatorship of the late Enver Hoxha, many Albanians transformed lids from cookware into antennas to be able to watch Italian TV shows, which were banned by the regime, while bowls were used to improve reception of "enemy" radios from abroad.

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