Lahore faced the season’s worst power shutdown on Tuesday as the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) failed to meet electricity demands. Power remained shut for two hours after every one hour in all parts of the city. The power shortfall increased to 5,722 megawatt as production came down to 12,616MW while demand touched 18,338MW.
The city has been facing a 14 to 18-hour power shutdown for the last three days despite LESCO’s announcement of eight-hour outage in urban areas and 10-hour shutdown in rural areas. The citizens showed resentment over unscheduled power-closure. “One could not ascertain when power will be closed. It could be after one hour or even half an hour,” said a consumer, Jameel Ahmed.
The grid station officials said they had to follow the Nation Power Control Centre (NPCC)’s instructions and were helpless against unscheduled power-cuts. “We have no option but to cut the supply as soon as we receive a call,” said an official at the Township Grid Station. “We could not sleep on Monday night, as the NPCC officials called us after every one hour for closing the supply,” he added.
LESCO sources said power outages had increased to facilitate areas exempted from electricity shutdown and LESCO was helpless in this regard. “These areas include Defence, Cantonment and residential blocks of top military and government officials,” he added.
