Updated

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told citizens Wednesday to limit their showers to three minutes because the country is having problems supplying water and electricity.

"Some people sing in the shower, in the shower half an hour," he said during a televised cabinet meeting. "No kids, three minutes is more than enough. I've counted, three minutes, and I don't stink."

Chavez said low rainfall caused by El Nino meant water levels were at critically low levels in the El Guri reservoir, one of the world's largest dams.

"If you are going to lie back, in the bath, with the soap and you turn on the what's it called, the Jacuzzi ... imagine that, what kind of communism is that? We're not in times of Jacuzzi," Chavez said.

He called on state-run organizations to immediately cut energy consumption by 20 percent and mentioned using airplanes to force rain from clouds.

The leader also said the government would publish a decree forbidding imports of low-efficiency electrical appliances.