Electricity load shedding resumed once again in the country on Saturday after a break of just 11 days. Though the duration in the urban areas is two to three hours and in rural area three to five hours, power outages are likely to increase in the coming days as the power shortfall, which is currently roaming between 1,500MW and 1,700MW, is increasing, insiders in the Ministry of Water and Power told Pakistan Today.
The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) is facing a shortage of 300MW while the rest of the distribution companies are suffering a deficit of 200MW to 400MW of electricity. The outages started on Friday night and all areas in Lahore experienced load shedding. However, as the duration of the outages was not too much, it did not bother consumers. Protests against power load shedding rocked the country and finally on October 4, the Finance Ministry released Rs 11 billion to the power sector.
Power outages ended immediately but there was a chance that it would return as soon the money provided ended. An official of the ministry said funds provided by the government were not sufficient to control load shedding. He said if more funds were not provided the three to five hours of load shedding would once again touch the eight to 12-hour mark. “The consumers should get ready for more blackouts,” he said.
Load shedding returns
