Widespread outages persist despite govt’s claim of ‘fully restoring’ power
A day after a massive breakdown hit Pakistan, Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir said on Tuesday that electricity has been fully restored at grid stations across the country. However, major cities, including Karachi, Quetta and Lahore, remained deprived of power.
“Power at all 1,112 stations of the national grid has been restored,” Dastgir tweeted.
In a televised address at 10am, the minister explained said that there was a “delay in synchronisation” between Tarbela and Mangla power plants.
“But with the support of the Power Division, Wapda and other departments, we fixed the technical problem after which power at systems across the country was restored.
“Today, at 5:15am, the system was completely restored across the country,” Dastgir said.
However, the minister pointed out that there will be a shortage of electricity for the next two days.
He elaborated that approximately 6,600 megawatts of coal and 3,500MW of nuclear plants would take an estimated 48 to 72 hours to restart. “Until these plants start running, there will be limited load management, excluding industrial users.”
Dastgir further said that there was no fuel shortage in the country. “We are considerate of the electricity bills people have to pay and try not to unnecessarily use power plants that require a lot of energy.”
Talking about the investigation into the breakdown, the minister said that the government suspected “foreign intervention such as hacking of systems”.
“But its chances are very less. There have been incidents previously and we have to rule out this thing,” he added.
Dastgir also blamed the PTI government for the electricity breakdown, saying that it had not worked on upgrading the systems.
However, contrary to the government’s claims, a number of areas across the country were still deprived of power as of Tuesday morning.
Karachi
In Karachi, outages were reported in Defence, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, North Karachi, Federal B Areas, Gulshan, Jacob Lines, Korangi, Landhi and Qayyumabad.
Meanwhile, K-Electric spokesperson Imran Rana tweeted earlier today that the restoration of connectivity between the national grid and Karachi has helped improve the electricity supply to the metropolis.
“Electricity has been restored at important installations including airports, hospitals and water pumping stations,” he said, adding that all grids of K-Electric were fully functional.
“However, to keep the system stable, limited temporary load management can be done in the city,” Rana said.
Electricity to be fully restored in Balochistan by tonight: Qesco
On the other hand, the spokesperson of the Quetta Electric Supply Company told Dawn.com that electricity was partially restored across Balochistan from the 220kV Uch-Sibbi transmission line.
In Quetta, he said, power was being supplied from the 132kV Sibbi- Quetta circuit transmission line.
“We have also restored electricity at grid stations in Dera Murad Jamali, Rojhan Jamali and Gandakha, Bhag, Jhal Magsi, Usta Muhammad, Sohbatpur, Sui, Sibbi, Dhadar and Machh.”
Further improvement in the power situation will come after the Dera Ghazi Khan-Loralai transmission line is repaired, the Qesco spokesperson added. “God willing, electricity will be fully restored in Quetta and other areas by tonight.”
Another frequency issue in Lahore
Separately, the Lahore Electric Supply Company said that another “frequency issue” was reported in Lahore.
“After yesterday’s major power breakdown, power was restored in all areas of Lesco late at night. However, load management is being done in some areas due to a frequency issue,” it tweeted.
“Electricity will be restored without interruption as soon as the situation improves,” it added.
Meanwhile, during a US State Department briefing, spokesperson Ned Price was asked about the outage and whether the United States was sending anyone to Pakistan to look into it for a long-term solution to the collapsing grids.
“Of course I’ve seen what has transpired in Pakistan. Our thoughts are with all those who’ve been affected by the outages,” Price said in his weekly briefing. “The United States of course, as you mentioned, has assisted our Pakistani partners across any number of challenges. We are prepared to do so in this case if there is something that we’re able to provide. But I’m not aware of any particular requests.”
US sympathises with Pakistanis affected by power outages
Meanwhile, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, at a weekly press briefing on Monday, was asked to comment on whether the US had any plans to assist Pakistan to overcome energy shortage in the wake of massive power breakdown in the country.
“Of course, I’ve seen what has transpired in Pakistan. Our thoughts are with all those who’ve been affected by the outages,” Price responded.
He said the US had assisted its Pakistani partners across a number of challenges. “We are prepared to do so in this case if there is something that we’re able to provide. But I’m not aware of any particular requests,” he added.
More to follow