Unscheduled and prolonged power outages in the provincial capital increased to between 12 and 14 hours on Sunday as the country’s electricity shortfall reached 4,300 MWs.
Load shedding hours have increased by 12 to 14 in the city and by 14 to 16 in urban areas under Lahore Electric Supply Company Limited (LESCO)’s limits due to the rise in electricity consumption in the previous few days and a decline in electricity production.
Meanwhile, electricity shortfall at the national grid jumped to 4,300 MW on Sunday as demand increased to 17,200 MW while production remained at a meager 12,900 MW.
NTDC sources said that the shortfall had reached 5,200 MW due to a shortage of oil supply and it may further rise in the case of persistent humid weather. Electricity generation was as follows: PEPCO’s hydel power generation units producing 6,176 MW, thermal power houses generating 1,839 MW, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) generating 4,000 MW and Rental Power Plants (RPPs) contributing 885 MW.
People protested against the prolonged load shedding and said that the government was not concerned with the miseries of masses. They complained that their daily work was badly affected by this energy situation and they were unable to rest, even on weekends. They said that 12 to 14 hour load shedding and blackouts in electricity supply had created a negative effect on their everyday lives. While protesting, they said that LESCO’s workers were not entertaining their blackout-related complaints despite being repeatedly informed by the residents about these unscheduled inconveniences.
They demanded the government to take action against the negligence of LESCO’s workers who were not paying any heed to their repeated queries. They also demanded government to ensure the required oil supply to electricity production units to get rid of such power outages.