The inhabitants of the city are once again being subjected to prolonged and recurring power failures especially since the weather has become humid.

Relevant sources in the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) claimed on Wednesday that the power utility’s own power generation system as well as the external supply has been doing the best it can but given the increasing demand for power, the utility has no choice but to resort to load-shedding.

A source, privy to the power situation, said that on Tuesday the accumulated electric supply demand in the city touched 2,322 megawatts and whereas the overall power supply available to the power utility was 2,222MWs creating a shortage of 100MWs in the last 24 hours.

On Tuesday, the electricity output from the Bin Qasim Thermal Power Plant was 1,150MWs, Korangi Thermal Power Plant 150MWs, Korangi Gas Turbines 150MWs and Wapda 400MWs, whereas the regular power supply from KANUPP, small independent power producers, and the 80MW supply from DHA’s desalination plant was made available to the KESC.

Despite this, Karachiites were subjected to more than one spell of power outage and on each occasion, there was no power for over two hours, said the source.

All civic and commercial activities in the city are suffering given the prolonged and frequent power failures throughout the day as well as the evening. There seems to be no plausible explanation for the power cuts, especially if the power generating units have been supplying the required electricity. Other than the phenomenal rise in temperature and humidity levels, there seems to be no other reason behind the power shortage in the city.

An official of the KESC conceded the situation that various power distribution installations and transmission systems in the city are often overloaded given the rise in consumption, thus the systems frequently develop faults.

Worse of all are the power failures during the night. A complainant from the Cantonment Bazar in Malir Cantt said that on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, he had to experience a prolonged power failure after 1.00 am, saying that this was the second consecutive night bringing with it a long-lasting power outage.

Students taking the HSC (Intermediate) annual examinations are suffering the most because there is no power both at home as well as the examination centres. The business activities in the city have been under enormous financial duress as the concerned owners of the businesses have no other option but to run generators as

an alternative source of electric supply.

Also on Wednesday, besides regular intervals of load-shedding, the areas of Block 2, PECHS, Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 14, Memon Goth and Seaview came under a prolonged power outage. After 3.00 pm on Wednesday, the power utility was facing a 125MWs shortage of electricity in meeting the burgeoning demand of power in the city, causing recurring power failures.