The Energy & Mines Ministry (MEM) is creating a bill in order to promote the efficient use of electricity in the national domestic sector, the Vice Minister of Energy Daniel Camac reported Monday. 
Hundreds of thousands of Americans and Canadians spilled on to the streets of cities as far apart as New York, Toronto and Detroit, yesterday after the worst power cut in US history hit the northeastern region.
With temperatures climbing above 90F, armies of long-suffering workers began a long, hot walk home, with commuter trains halted and failed traffic lights bringing gridlock to the roads.
Thousands more were trapped on subway trains in stifling, pitch-black conditions and in skyscraper lifts.
Flights in and out of seven airports were halted and the New York Stock Exchange was hit just after trading closed.
US authorities were forced to shut down seven nuclear power plants because of "grid instabilities", but officials said emergency generators would ensure that "all plants are in a safe condition".
Lightning hitting a Con Edison power station near Niagara Falls in New York state was blamed for the massive disruption.
A spokeswoman for Jean Chrétien, the Canadian prime minister, said that officials on both sides of the US-Canada border confirmed that the lightning strike started a cascading power failure over a huge area.
As long queues formed for candles and torches, Mike Bloomberg, the New York mayor, played down fears of terrorism.
He said the most likely cause was overloading in the giant Niagara Mohawk power grid, which boasts 84,000 miles of transmission lines.
He advised people to go home, or stay with friends if they lived outside the city, but he hoped that power would be restored within hours.
The power cut spread in a "ripple-effect" across Michigan, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, and across the border into Canada, as far as Ottawa and Toronto.
It was the largest crisis to hit America since the September 11 attacks and George Pataki, the New York State Governor, declared a state of emergency. Security has been high at reservoirs, power stations and utility plants in case computer hackers or bombers attacked power grids or water supplies.
New Yorkers were alarmed by black smoke emerging from a Con Edison transformer station in Manhattan. But Mr Bloomberg said it was caused by a fail-safe mechanism, which shut down the New York grid to protect it.
Bryan Lee, a spokesman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said, however, that there were indications that a fire at a power station sent a wave of destruction across the grid.
The Niagara power grid, which is based in Buffalo, and draws much of its energy from Niagara Falls, was bought by the British company National Grid in September 2000.
It distributes electricity to 60 per cent of the northeastern United States, and parts of Canada.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic flights were disrupted and both airlines advised passengers to contact them today in case of possible alterations to schedules.
The cuts, which affected more than half of New York state's 19 million consumers, were worse than those on the West coast on Aug 11, 1996, which hit four million customers in nine states.
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