It happens sometimes in the USA too. I was at Santa Fe for a business trip when the entire state of New Mexico went dark. There were bad traffic jams as all of the red lights were out. My hotel offered a buffet dinner that night, using food that could be cooked on charcoal grills. At the time (IIRC Saturday afternoon), I was driving along the Turquoise Trail from Los Alamos and couldn't understand why everything looked closed and dark in the little towns, especially shops oriented toward tourists, when it was only about 5 pm.