CARACAS (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez’s government has relaxed unpopular electricity rationing at malls amid an energy crisis that dampened the New Year’s fun of shopaholic and party-loving Venezuelans.

Citing an unprecedented drought and emergency water-levels at Venezuela’s main Guri reservoir, the government began the year with drastic rationing across the South American nation, from aluminium smelters to street-lights.

At a time when many Venezuelans are on holiday and, if not at the beach, flock to shopping malls and night-spots for their recreation, new early-closing hours from January 1 hit hard.

Malls could only use the national grid between 11 am and 9 pm, though most are full of restaurants, cinemas, bars and discos that normally stay open much later.

Anti-government newspapers and politicians jumped on the measures to accuse the Chavez government of being a killjoy, punishing ordinary people for its own failings.

But after discussions this week between shopping mall managers and government officials, the rules were modified late on Tuesday to allow recreational spots to stay open later, and essential services like clinics or banks to open earlier.

“Thank God! Now I can go to the cinema again with my kids,” said mother-of-three and office administrator Esther Pereira. “It’s been a horrible New Year with all these restrictions.”

The easing of the mall restrictions takes the steam out of a campaign by the opposition and anti-Chavez newspapers, who seized on it as a front-page issue in a politically sensitive year when Venezuelans vote for a new legislature in September.

But the government still faces a major challenge to address the national power shortfall. Staggered electricity cuts remain in place around the country, and basic industries may have to shut down to ease the strain on Guri.