Ongoing extreme heat and prolonged power outages across the country have made the lives of the masses miserable, reported the 24NewsHD TV channel.
People are facing severe difficulties in several parts of the country due to power outages of eight to ten hours as the electricity shortfall has increased significantly.
The reports said that the demand for electricity peaked at 28,000 MW against the available supply of 21,484 MW. The sources said that the shortfall has touched 6,516 megawatts. They said the load on the distribution system had increased because of the increase in the severity of heat.
In urban areas, three to six hours of load-shedding was reported while rural areas of the country experienced up to 10 hours of outages.
In addition to scheduled outages, brownouts (tripping, fluctuation, low voltage, etc) caused by the overloaded transmission and distribution system also forced load management.
In the Lahore region, more than 270 transformers were dysfunctional in a few days due to extreme heatwave and power fluctuation. The residents have to face a power outage for forty to fifty long hours.
Many transformers failed to manage the load and stopped working at night resultantly.
Lahore Electricity Supply Company (LESCO) demand has also exceeded by 5000 MW.
Many parts of Lahore including Mozang, Kacha Jail Road, Amir Town, Harbanspura, Shahdara Town, and Imamia Colony witnessed load shedding for the whole night.
LESCO Chief Shahid Haider said that the demand for power in the area these days is up to 5,000 MW while the supply is 4,600 MW. The company is doing load-shedding to bridge the shortfall of 400 MW, he added.
Likewise, several areas of Karachi are also witnessing a huge power outage. The residents of Karachi are facing unannounced load-shedding for up to 12 hours.
In Peshawar, citizens came out on the roads due to electricity load-shedding. They blocked Kohati Gate and circular road traffic. Citizens protested against load shedding in Kohat as well.