Power cuts continue unhindered

Power Division says action being taken in those areas where losses are high, theft rampant

ISLAMABAD:

Prolonged load shedding across the country continued to make lives of the people miserable with sources in the Power Division saying that it is being carried out in only those areas where there are high losses and electricity theft is rampant.

Residents of most of the cities, including Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, registered complaints with distribution companies that they were facing up to 20-hour power cuts.

People of most of the areas of Karachi complained that they were suffering from three-hour load shedding as many times a day.

The main complaints were regarding children getting sick without electricity amid sweltering temperatures.
Most of the people said that they were already struggling to make ends meet under the skyrocketing inflation so it was difficult for them to take their children to the doctors.

Meanwhile in Peshawar, the residents complained about up to 16 hours of load shedding with shopkeepers saying that “electricity goes after every hour for two hours”.

Similarly in Lahore, the residents of the area said that they were suffering from up to eight hours of power outages.
They said that they were informed by the Lahore Electric Supply Company that power cut would be of up to hours a day, but it occurs four to five times a day.

Further, the residents of Quetta complained that power outages were lasing from eight to sometimes 20 hours a day.

The most effected people were the farmers who said that they were preparing for the production of crops and shortage of water due to load shedding would add to their woes.

However, the Quetta Electric Supply Company statement said that urban areas were witnessing power outages of up to eight hours while rural areas up to 15 hours due to “recovery of dues”.

The country is facing an electricity shortfall of 5,000 megawatts (MW), as the total power production stands at 22,500MW while the demand is 27,500MW.

According to the Power Division sources on Tuesday, the hydropower generation stood at 6,598MW, the government thermal power plants were generating 935MW, private sector power plants 10,503MW, wind power plants 123MW, solar power plants 121MW, from Biogas, 156 MW of electricity was being generated and the power production from nuclear power plants was 3,164MW.

The sources said that due to technical faults in some areas of the country, unannounced load shedding was taking place.

The most load shedding was occurring in the areas where there were high losses and electricity theft was rampant.