Production of electrical energy amounted to 21 billion kilowatt-hours in 1971, of which 90 percent was generated by thermal stations. Energy output in 1972 reached 22.3 billion kilowatt-hours. The Sixth Five-Year Plan calls for an energy output of 30.5 billion kilowatt-hours in 1975, which is equivalent to an average annual increase in output of 9.4 percent during the five-year period. In the years 1971 and 1972 energy output rose by an average of 6.9 percent per year, so that an average annual rise of 11 percent will be needed in the remaining years to attain the planned goal in 1975. Consumption of electrical energy in 1975 is planned to reach 33.5 billion kilowatt-hours. The planned deficit of 3 billion kilowatt-hours is to be covered by imports from Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union. The electrical transmission network is well developed, and further major improvements have been planned. The network is connected with the power grids of Romania and Yugoslavia. A 400-kilovolt power line from the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union was reported to have been completed in mid-1972. There was no evidence nine months later that power had actually been transmitted over that line. Eighteen percent of the total electrical energy supply in 1971 was used by the power stations or lost in transmission. Of the remaining net supply, almost 70 percent was consumed in industry and construction; agriculture received only 4 percent; and transport and communications accounted for little more than 3 percent. Households were allotted about 16 percent of the net electrical supply, and the balance of 7 percent was consumed in trade, public institutions, and street lighting. The major industrial users of energy were metallurgical enterprises and the producers of chemicals and rubber; each of these industrial branches consumed one-fifth of the energy supply to industry. Expansion of electric-generating capacity and energy output at rates planned by the government has been hampered by a chronic lag in new construction and by inadequate maintenance of existing facilities. The lack of preventive maintenance and disregard of technical requirements in the operation of equipment result in frequent breakdowns requiring major repairs. Such repairs, particularly those involving boilers, turbines, and transformers, pose difficult problems because of the shortage of technically qualified repair personnel and ineffective organization of repair work. Efficiency of operation is also adversely affected by a high labor turnover and the difficulty of finding qualified replacements.