Power cuts last up to 9 hours in Sukkur

SEPCO has started cutting power for repairs besides routine load shedding.

SUKKUR: Power outages throughout Sukkur are lasting up to nine hours.

The Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) has started cutting power for repairs and maintenance, besides the routine load shedding. The worst affected are those people living within the jurisdiction of Sepco sub-division III.

The supply to the New Bunder Road feeder, which comes under sub-division III, has been cut for hours on the pretext of repairs since November 22. The taluka municipal administration’s main waterworks is also located in this feeder so residents are forced to live without water whenever electricity is suspended.

An official at Site grid station told The Express Tribune that shutdowns are approved by the Sepco chief executive officer. On November 22, the shutdown was scheduled from 8 am to 1:30 pm and another will take place on November 26.

However, additional outages were reported on other days as well. On November 23, the supply was suspended from 2:45 pm to 4:40 pm and, on November 24, from 6:45 am to 10:15 am. On Thursday, power outages took place between 7:15 am and 3:30 pm.

The Express Tribune contacted Sepco chief executive officer Shamsuddin Shaikh for a clarification but he referred the case to Power Dispatch Centre, Sukkur, deputy-director Mushtaq Abbasi. The power outages on Thursday were approved, Abbasi said. Since power was cut 45 minutes before the scheduled time, he said that he would issue a show-cause notice to the relevant SDO.

There were no power outages earlier in the week. The Pakistan Electric Power Company said that during that time there was no electricity shortage in the Sukkur region.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2010.