After three days of excess load shedding, the consumers had a little relief on Sunday when only eight to 10 hours of load shedding was observed in the city. The closure of markets, banks and offices resulted in decreased in power usage and consequently the electricity was supplied to the domestic users continuously for two to three hours. During the last four days there had been excessive load shedding throughout the country and power outages increased upto 16 hours. However, on Sunday the electricity was closed for one to two hours only after every three to
four hours.
According to the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), the power shortfall on Saturday remained 5,992 megawatts (MW) causing massive unscheduled load shedding in all parts of the country. The PEPCO failed to manage the shortage in power production that resulted in 12 to 16 hours of electricity closure. However Water and Power Ministry officials believe that in the coming days, the duration of load shedding would increase again. The traders had already announced strikes in the city claiming that their yield had been destroyed completely due to continuous power outages and they were not in a position to pay even the daily wages to the labour.
The power production on Saturday remained 10,0075MW while the demand touched 16,067MW. There had been a significant cut in hydel and thermal productions which remained 2,504MW and 1,410MW respectively whereas the Independent Power Producers’ (IPPs) production also reduced and remained 5,746MW. Lahore Township Industries Association (LTIA) has decided to launch a series of protests against massive scheduled and unscheduled power outages and on the first leg of the protests, a complete strike will be observed by the LTIA on Tuesday.