• Urban areas experience six up to 10 hours in the countryside from eight to 16 hours of load reduction
• Reported shortfalls of 6,000 to 7,000 MW; situation with utility applications will improve soon
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR/KARACHI: menace of unloading swept across the country on Thursday, departure homes and business in darkness as the temperature continued rise forthcoming of forecast heat.
Citizens complained of 6 to 10 hours of blackouts in urban areas, while those in rural areas of country, including localities covered by the service area of feeders with high losses – observed from 8 to 16 hours of load reduction.
No part of the country was spared from blackouts.
“From Wednesday the duration of load shedding gone up up to eight hours or more in Lahore; four to six hours in day and two to four hours at night,” a resident complained. of District of the city of Johar in Lahore.
Another citizen from Hanewal reported 12-14. hours of load reduction on daily.
From the Sukkur division, residents complained that there was no one was even available register your complaints. “This is becoming more horrible for people who fast,” he said.
Sources said, current gap in demand and the offer expanded fast thanks to drop in power generation by thermal installations, brought on due to a severe shortage of gas and other fuels.
“As the temperature rises total the deficit is between 7,000 and 8,000 MW, and it can increase even more if hot and dry weather preserved in coming days, and power official said Dawn.
He said that demand on Only the Lahore Electric Supply Company increased the capacity to 4,600 MW during iftar, while the supply was about 3,900 MW.
Another official put total power demand figure from country (excluding Karachi) at 18,500 MW in peak hours while only 14,500 MW were being supplied.
twin cities
Even in capital and garrison city no respite from protracted blackouts, with people complain about life in holy month of Ramadan has become very difficult for them according to circumstances.
Many complain of power breaks in the peak times of sehri and iftar.
“Load shedding beats us during the heat of the weather government should realize that it’s not possible to spend days and nights without electricity,” said Nauman Ahmed, a resident of Westridge Bazaar.
He said Dawn what women of his household who fasted in a very difficult situation; did not have power to run kitchen appliances and they had to work hard in in heat to cook for sehri and iftar.
Aziz Ahmed, a tailor, said that common people paid their electricity bills regularly, but they did not receive electricity according to their needs. “We failed to give stitched suits clients on time. frequent power cuts made hard to do work,” he said.
However, IESCO representatives said they are studying power load management on different times in most parts of in the region mainly due to rapid growth in demand for electricity due to rising temperature and time difference in demand and delivery of electricity.
IESCO officials said they in touch with in concerned formation and uninterrupted supply of electricity supply to consumers will be carried out as soon How are they coping with the current situation?
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Large parts of provincial capital and surrounding areas also facing hours-long power shutdowns.
Abdul Qadeer, resident of The Gulshan colony stated that their power the offer was good before heat the wave kicked him. “Load shedding jumped more than 14 hours for past two days,” he said. He said it was especially difficult during sehri and iftar. He said that a long molt also causing interruptions in the gas supply people gas generators were working.
In addition, there were Charsadda, Nowshera and Khyber. also facing lengthy power contractions during Ramzan. In many of areas, people to complain of load reduction in excess of fifteen hours in a day.
Karachi and Sindh
citizens of There was no relief in Karachi either, as K-Electric on Thursday dumped misfortunes on consumers by announcing a two-hour unloading in specific areas of in city.
representative for in power utility stated: “KE’s production capacity is also suffering from a lack of fuel. To deal with the situation, 2 hours of load is controlled. The situation is expected to improve after decrease in commercial activities during Eid al-Adha”.
According to new schedulevarious areas of in city we will face two hours ahead of Eidul Fitr in addition to routine power shutdowns.
Balochistan
Like other parts of country, Balochistan also facing acute shortage of power supply, resulting in extended power outages across the province as temperatures rose with passage of daily. The provincial capital of Quetta was facing 6 to 8 hours shedding while in in people received power food from 6 to 8 hours.
This was reported by representatives of the Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO). Dawn that the district headquarters in Balochistan were facing 12 to 14 hours load shedding due to shortage of power production.
Published in Dawn, April 29, 2022
