Unannounced load-shedding continues unabated in parts of city

Despite federal minister Asad Umer’s assurance that “there will be no unannounced electricity load-shedding” from July 12 in Karachi and also the National Electric Power Regulator Authority’s (NEPRA) public hearing on the K-Electric’s (KE) performance in the city, residents say unannounced load-shedding continues unabated in parts of the metropolis.

Last week in his press conference, KE Chief Executive Officer Moonis Abdullah Alvi had said no area in Karachi had power load-shedding for over eight hours a day and “to do that KE has to incur losses”.

He had shared how the power demand is 3,560 megawatts and in the best-case scenario, they are able to provide 3,200 megawatts of electricity.

While the mercy soared to 35.7-degree centigrade and the feel-like temperature was almost 40 degrees in Karachi on Thursday, residents faced intermittent power failures. Lyari, North Karachi, PIB Colony, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Ancholi and Saddar are among areas that continue to face unannounced load-shedding, according to locals.

Even the areas where announced load-shedding is occurring, additional unannounced-load shedding for several hours also takes place, residents claim.

A resident of the Martin Road area, Raheel Ahmed, told The News they "do get messages for load-shedding, but it never occurs on the time mentioned by KE".

"If the power utility says that the power will be suspended from 8am to 9am, the power usually cut off after 11am. This is actually worse than announced load-shedding,” Ahmed said.

He complained that if they had to run their water sucking machine, they were clueless about the timing of load-shedding. Similarly, a resident of North Karachi, Sector 11-L, Syed Hasban, shared with The News how they face intermittent power breakdowns, even during late hours. “After midnight, power can go at any time. We keep ourselves braced,” he said adding that the minimum duration of a power outage was one and a half hour.

Usually the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, he said, released water late night in the area. “This is the same time when KE starts load-shedding,” he complained adding that they could not run water machines on UPS or generators.

Ancholi’s Block 17 resident, Naveed Hussain faces similar problems. He said they didn’t have any fixed time for load-shedding. “The minimum load-shedding on a daily basis is two hours, thrice a day,” he said and complained electric appliances developing faults due to intermittent power break downs.

A resident of the Ayesha Manzil area said he faced unannounced power failure from 9am to 10am. “Since this is a routine power outage,” he said, “it has become announced load-shedding for us. But there was another power failure at 11am and the power resumed at 8pm,” he said adding that even the UPS battery ran out.

Meanwhile, KE ruled out unannounced power failures in any part of the city. “For any fault or power shutdown the registered consumers are always informed,” the power utility said adding that the schedule of load-shedding was uploaded on a daily basis on their websites. Even “the areas of power theft” only had announced load-shedding, KE said asking not to “link any local fault with load-shedding”.

‘Unauthorised tampering’

A man received multiple electrical shocks and sustained burn injuries when he broke into an electricity substation in Gadap Town and “tampered with power equipment”, KE said in a press statement.

It said Muhammad Ghulam, a labourer, tried to repair a faulty low-tension (LT) cable. “Mishandling the high-voltage equipment, normally handled by trained skilled technicians resulted in burn injuries, damaged power equipment and power outage in the area.”

KE personnel were able to respond swiftly, saving the man’s life and repairing the damaged cable, said the power utility.

“Unauthorised tampering and encroachment of sensitive electrical infrastructure damages equipment and can cause fatal electrocutions. On May 4, 2020, two men were electrocuted to death, in separate incidents in Karachi. One of these victims – Hanif, 23, was electrocuted in Darya Abad area of Lyari, while setting up an illegal power-connection. Another victim, 18-year-old Ashraf, also died when attempting an illegal hooked connection on a high-tension (HT) line in Manzoor Colony.”