Evening outages hurt shops and Eid shoppers

LAHORE: A regular two-hour power outage during the evening has made Eid shopping difficult for the public.

The commercial feeders are closed regularly from 8 pm to 10 pm, and all major markets of the city, including Liberty Market, Gulberg Main Boulevard, Defence, Fortress Stadium, the Mall, Model Town Link Road, Iqbal Town, Cavalry Ground, and Ichhra suffer. According to shopkeepers, their sales have decreased as a result, and their costs have risen. The latter has occurred because of the use of generators. Businessmen requested the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) to change the closure timings from evening to noon.

Babar Ali Bhatti, the finance secretary of the Qaumi Tajir Ittehad Liberty Market, said the customers prefer to shop during the evening after Iftar instead. However, as soon the customers come to shop, the grid electricity is withdrawn. “We have to use generators,” he said, adding, “If we spend, say, Rs200 per day on electricity, the cost reaches Rs400 after generator use,” he added.

Fahim Khan, a shopkeeper from Model Town Link Road, said his customers complain about suffocation, since lights and fans can be run on generators but not air conditioners.  He added that Lesco should change the time of the closure from evening to noon.

Customers said that they face a lot of problems due to the closure of electricity. Women in particular were not happy with the situation. “There is a lot of suffocation in the shops in the evenings, as the air conditioners are not working. In such an environment, it is not possible to concentrate fully on the shopping,” said Sameera Ahmed, adding that it was difficult to shop in the afternoon due to Ramazan.

In addition, unscheduled outages have started occurring repeatedly in the city. According to Lesco officials, the power shortfall has now crossed 300 MW and the increased load on grid stations is causing unscheduled outages. They added that there would be fewer outages in the coming days due to an improvement in electricity production.

Javed Ahmed Khan, the Lesco  Additional Director, was not available for comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2010.