Citizens in the provincial metropolis continue to suffer prolonged power outages as frequent tripping and unscheduled electricity load shedding continue to be the order of the day, making life difficult in this hot and humid weather.

The situation is worse in suburban Lahore where consumers are facing 10 to 15 hours of load shedding on a daily basis — all of which is unannounced — besides forced shutdowns during peak hours.

Amjad Iqbal, a resident of Shahdara, says that power fluctuations and outages have become a nuisance: “Not only do they impact our daily routines, they are also damaging our home appliances.”

He urges the government to take immediate notice of the situation.

Iqbal Ahmed, who is based on Burki Road, which has generally seen fewer incidences of power outages, says that load shedding has lately increased in this area too. Ahmed says that he has made several complaints to the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) but nothing has come of it.

Amid an ever increasing demand for electricity, Lesco appears to have failed its consumers who are already struggling with high power tariffs.

Earlier, in its load management programme, issued for the period between June 25 and July 5, Lesco had announced load shedding for up to seven hours. But the number of hours was increased without any intimation.

When quizzed about the complaint, a Lesco official told TNS, requesting anonymity, that unscheduled load shedding was the result of a power generation shortfall. Moreover, issues related to frequent feeder tripping are also being experienced due to an increased pressure on grid stations.

The Lesco officer says that the company has been managing load as per the announced schedule, but the gap between demand and supply is being transferred to areas where recovery rate is slow. “Most parts of the country have been experiencing load shedding for several hours due to the widening shortfall.”

He confirms that unannounced load shedding for long hours is being carried out in several parts of the city including Misri Shah, Township, Qila Gujjar Singh, Ravi Road, Gulberg, Hadiara, Chungi Amar Sadhu, Hanjarwal, Imamia Colony, Chauburji and Green Town. The situation, according to him, is worse on high-loss feeders where people have had to face load shedding for up to 16 hours a day.

Replying to a query, he says that the total shortfall has widened, forcing the NPCC to share power with the DISCOS’s distribution systems which remains less than their actual demand, the power distribution companies then have to resort to load shedding for three to five hours in urban areas and five to 10 hours in rural areas.

“Load management in areas that fall in the service jurisdiction of high-loss feeders is another issue,” he adds. “As a matter of fact, we don’t count the load shedding hours in high-loss feeder areas (power theft areas), since it’s a policy matter to have load shedding in these areas regardless of weather conditions.

“In a situation where Lesco is confronted with a huge gap in demand and supply of electricity, the company has no option but to force load shedding,” he declares. “The hours [of load shedding] vary from area to area, depending on how big the gap is between demand and supply.”

The writer is a senior journalist and can be reached at ahsanzia155@gmail.com