* Government tries to prevent power deficit from growing

* New rationing measures began in capital Caracas

* 10-hour per day cuts have become normal in many regions

* Businesses, factories forecast reduced sales, output amid

poor public services

By Tibisay Romero, Mariela Nava and Marianna Parraga

VALENCIA/MARACAIBO/LA GUAIRA, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Less than

two months after devastating twin earthquakes left more than

6,000 dead, Venezuelans are being called by the government to

save power and water.

With a drought looming, many read this as an omen of more

widespread electricity outages and less fresh water supply after

months of already severe cuts.

Interim President Delcy Rodriguez said last week that El

Niño was already hitting the OPEC country and could bring

drought before year-end. The periodic phenomenon, which warms

the Pacific Ocean's surface altering global weather patterns,

made power and water conservation necessary, she said.

The call for expanded conservation on the already challenged

grid has triggered fresh protests across regions where people

and businesses face electricity cuts of up to 10 hours per day,

frequent equipment malfunctions that lead to days-long power

outages and intermittent water supply.

"I can't wrap my head around more power savings measures if

we don't have it at all," said Mariela Nunez, a 75-year-old

retired teacher in the central city of Valencia, where daily

power cuts are getting longer.

"They cut it without notice," she added. "The heat does not

allow us to sleep and we have no elevator to go up and down to a

12th-floor apartment."

Venezuela has less than 13,000 megawatts (MW) of generation

capacity available out of 36,000 MW installed, leaving a

shortfall of more than 1,500 MW between current supply and

demand that authorities are trying to keep from widening.

Nearly 90% of thermal capacity is out of service after years

of underinvestment and delayed maintenance, energy expert Nelson

Hernandez said in a report earlier this year. That has increased

dependence on hydropower, mostly from the Guri dam system in the

south, to more than 80%.

Rodriguez has promised that up to 4,800 MW of installed

capacity will be restored before year-end, saying recently

signed contracts with GE Vernova ( GEV ) and IMPSA for upgrades

and new turbines would also boost supply.

Past promises that went unmet, however, have left many

skeptical.

"We must be honest. El Niño is not the cause of the public

services' crisis," said Jose Antonio Robles, who leads Zulia

state's engineers' center. "It is only aggravating a

long-standing deficit."

He blamed the current need for rationing on years of

underinvestment in generation and deterioration of transmission

and distribution lines, which have made the system unable to

meet increased demand.

Drought and wildfires could also threaten agricultural

output, adding to the hardship from power and water rationing,

said Abraham Salcedo, who directs the school of civil

engineering at Venezuela's Central University.

Venezuela's information ministry and utility Corpoelec did

not reply to requests for comment.

POWER CUTS CLOUD QUAKE RECOVERY EFFORTS

In Caracas, the government last week ordered office

buildings and malls to switch elevators off three hours per day,

while some ministries and public offices have reduced service to

three days per week until further notice.

Factories, shops and farms hit by poor services or still

recovering from the quakes expect lower output and revenue

losses if supply tightens further, business chambers said.

Some public hospitals and private clinics are reinforcing

emergency care with generators, according to nurses and doctors.

"How will companies install in Venezuela? How will they grow

if there's no certainty over the national power system's

restoration?" asked Ernesto Abbas, who leads the commerce

chamber of central Carabobo, an industrial state increasingly

affected by electricity cuts.

In the cities worst hit by the twin quakes, including

largely devastated La Guaira on the northern coast, families

have lived in tents outside their damaged buildings for weeks

and say they cannot bear any more bad news.

"I have no idea of what we'll do," said Josefina Rodriguez,

59, a former public worker guarding her daughter's apartment

from a tent outside while waiting for official word on whether

it will be repaired or demolished. With no running water and

only a cable from a neighboring building to power a light bulb

and a fan, she fears the new rationing will make things worse.

In the neighborhood of Tanaguarena in La Guaira, where

dozens of buildings collapsed and rescuers are still taking

bodies out of the rubble, a small river that runs to a beach

where trucks are dumping debris is all homeless families have to

bathe and wash their clothes.