PEPCO tests people’s faith with uninterrupted power cuts

Contrary to the lofty claims of Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) Managing Director Rasul Khan Mehsud that there will be no load shedding during Iftar and Sehr, the entire country witnessed unscheduled and prolonged power cuts at exactly those times on Tuesday, the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. PEPCO and Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) tested the “faith” of the believers by shutting down electricity at frequent intervals throughout the day. Consumers said the Ministry of Power had been lying to them for the past three years. The PEPCO MD had claimed that there would be no load shedding during Iftar and Sehr, but his claims proved false on the very first day of the holy month.LESCO had also said that there would be no load shedding from 3am to 5am and from 6pm to 10pm.
However, its claims fell flat as the citizens faced severe problems due to frequent power outages. Housewives said they had been disappointed as there was no respite from load shedding. They said it was almost impossible to cook food without electricity. “I had to prepare the Sehr meal in darkness and faced a lot of problems. The weather was also very hot and humid … it seems LESCO is testing our faith,” a housewife, Samia Sajad, said, adding that the consumers had no appeal or request for LESCO, as the company always came up with false promises.Another consumer, Javaid Bashir, said he knew there would be no relief during Ramadan, adding that the PEPCO MD had been lying to the people. Besides closure of electricity at Sehr and Iftar times, there were extraordinary power cuts during the rest of the day as well. Electricity supply was suspended every alternate hour and power remained suspended in several areas even during tarawih prayers. “The power demand increased sharply during Sehr and Iftar, therefore electricity supply had to be suspended,” an official at Lahore’s Township Grid Station said, adding that the frequent power cuts were a result of technical problems. The situation was no different in Islamabad, where IESCO conducted load shedding at Sehr and Iftar timing. PEPCO said the power shortfall had touched 3,550MW, leading to power cuts of between eight and 14 hours a day. A PEPCO spokesman said the total demand for electricity was 18,304MW, while the total production was only 14,754MW.
No reduction: Meanwhile in Karachi, the KESC refused to reduce the duration of load shedding despite promises made earlier, citing insufficient supplies of oil and gas. The citizens of Karachi are facing 10 to 12 hours of power outage everyday. Citizens complained that the KESC central complain cell was not responding to their phone calls.
Sit-in: Moreover, angry citizens in Shikarpur staged a sit-in on the National Highway to protest prolonged load shedding in the city. The angry protesters chanted slogans against WAPDA, saying at least ten transformers in the city were out of order for the past five days.