- Lahore residents complain of repeated evening power failures.
- Urban areas face three to four hours of daily electricity cuts.
- Rural regions report six to eight hours of prolonged outages.
LAHORE: A massive shortfall between peak electricity demand and available generation has led to sudden, unannounced power cuts, causing severe difficulties for the public.
While the government officially announced a limited load-shedding schedule on Tuesday to manage fuel constraints, the reality on the ground has proven far more severe, with actual outages doubling or tripling official figures, The News reported.
In an effort to avoid a sharp increase in electricity tariffs and reduce the consumption of expensive imported fuels, the Power Division formally announced a daily suspension of supply for approximately 2.25 hours between 5pm to 1am.
However, consumer complaints indicate that urban areas are suffering through three to four hours of darkness, while rural regions are being hit with six to eight hours of daily load-shedding.
The instability in the energy situation has been particularly mounting even for residents in the provincial metropolis. Khalid Ali, a resident of the Walled City, shared his frustration over the erratic nature of the supply.
“It has been nearly four hours since the peak demand period began in the evening, and we have already suffered three separate outages, each lasting exactly one hour,” he noted. “The first was from 5:15 to 6:15pm, the second from 6:30 to 7:30pm, and the third from 8:15 to 9:15pm.
The situation is even worse in other localities. Shafiq, a resident of Iqbal Town, described a greater chaotic effect, with the power supply being suspended abruptly every 15 to 20 minutes after 8pm. There is no predictability, he regretted, and added you cannot imagine smooth urban life without a consistent power supply.
This frequent switching has raised fears of damage to expensive electronic appliances. Consumers noted that the situation has significantly worsened over the last 24 hours, leaving many without water or the ability to perform basic household tasks in the absence of an electricity supply.
On the other hand, an official maintains that power suspensions are a necessary step aimed at reducing the use of costly fuels as well as preventing a sharp rise in tariffs. However, for the citizens currently battling the increasingly warm weather and darkness, the disparity between official promises and the reality of a crumbling grid is becoming increasingly difficult to bear.
Compounding the misery of the blackouts is a total lack of synchronisation between power supply schedules and municipal water supply timings.
As water pumps require electricity to operate, the erratic and unannounced nature of the outages has left many neighbourhoods bone-dry. In many parts of the city, the brief windows when the water supply is active often coincide exactly with the periods of load-shedding, making it impossible for citizens to fill their overhead tanks.
This disconnect has turned a power crisis into a full-scale water emergency, hitting families hard as they struggle with basic hygiene and hydration during the sweltering evening hours.
