Power outages test Lahore’s patience

Consumers complain of frequent cuts, inflated bills

LAHORE:

Scheduled and unscheduled electricity load-shedding is on the rise in the provincial capital and adjoining areas, routinely making the lives of citizens difficult. Power utility consumers staged protests in several areas against the frequent power outages and inflated electricity tariffs.

Hundreds participated in the protests on Raiwind Road, Kahna and other areas, chanting slogans against the government, power companies, frequent power failures and exorbitant electricity tariffs.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on Sunday, Allah Rakha, a resident of a town near Raiwind Road, said that he and his neighbours are experiencing 10 to 12 hours of load-shedding amid hot and humid weather. “We have lodged dozens of complaints with the power utility company but nobody is ready to resolve them,” he added.

A resident of Johar Town named Muhammad Taha said that he is a student and lives in a private hostel on the UMT Road. Frequent power outages in the area have become unbearable for students preparing for their examinations. “We have to endure eight to 10 hours of load-shedding daily, amid hot and humid weather. We have grown tired and cannot concentrate on our studies.

The government should issue strict directions to power utility companies to announce load-shedding schedule beforehand, so citizens can plan their routines around the outages,” he said.

Another citizen, Usman Butt, said that the government has multiplied electricity tariffs over the last several months, in spite of the increased frequency of power outages.

Ahead of the recent Punjab by-elections, the ruling party announced waiver of electricity bills for consumers with a monthly power consumption of up to 100 units. Usman stated that small consumers in his neighbourhood received a bill of over Rs4,000 for consumption of around 94 units. Similar complaints were made by several other citizens from different areas of the city.

Contrary to public complaints, an official of the Lahore Electricity Supply Company (LESCO) claimed that the company is conducting two h ours of load-shedding daily in urban areas and four hours in rural areas.

Presently, the company has a demand of around 4,400MW, while it is getting a supply of 4,100 to 4,200MW of electricity from the national grid.

The people of Lahore have been bracing this menace, especially since the beginning of this month.

People from various areas of the city have missed no opportuninty of conveying their ordeal through the media and other channels.

On July 5, many people, while speaking to The Express Tribune, complained that unscheduled power outages were disrupting routine life in different areas of the provincial metropolis

Residents from a neighbourhood in Ghari Shahu also staged a protest demonstration against the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco).

They highlighted that the power utility company had failed to ensure consistent supply of electricity in their area.

A resident of the locality, Sheikh Naveed, pointed out that the power transformer of their area had exploded twice during past two weeks [the first week of July and the last one of June].

Residents of the area had made numerous complaints to Lesco for replacement of the under-capacity transformer but officials of the power company were not paying attention to their complaints, he said.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2022.