Already beleaguered by political and economic crises, Pakistan awoke on Monday to a major power outage affecting multiple cities due to a fault in transmission lines. Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, and other major Pakistani cities were left without power. This is the neighboring country’s second major power outage in four months as it deals with an energy crisis and high energy costs.
According to local media reports, power has been cut off to 117 grid stations owned by the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (IESCO). Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, and parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are served by IESCO (PoK).
According to Pakistan’s energy ministry, the frequency of the national grid dropped at 7:34 a.m. (local time), causing a “widespread breakdown” in the power system. The ministry later stated that grid station restoration began in Warsak and that a “limited number of grids” of Islamabad Supply Company and Peshawar Supply Company were restored.
Pakistan’s energy minister Khurram Dastgir, however, maintained that the breakdown was not “major”. Dastgir explained to Geo News that power generation systems are temporarily shut down at night during the winter due to a decrease in electricity demand. However, when the systems were turned on in the morning, he said, he noticed frequency and voltage fluctuations in the south power generating units shutting down one by one.
How long will it take to re-establish power?
The energy minister stated that grid station restoration in Peshawar and Islamabad has begun and that power will be fully restored throughout the country within the next 12 hours.
‘Darkness and hopelessness’
Former MP Bushra Gohar claimed that darkness and hopelessness had spread to “mainstream Pakistan” as a result of unannounced power outages in many areas of Pakhtunkhwa for days.
“Darkness and hopelessness have spread to mainstream Pakistan as well – Many areas in #Pakhtunkhwa have unannounced power outages & poor or no internet connections for days – State of a nuclear insecure security State – #GayaPakistan,” she wrote on Twitter.
