Pakistan suffers major power outage after grid failure

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan faced a nationwide power breakdown on Monday due to a ''frequency variation'' in the national grid, leaving millions of people without electricity, the second such outage in nearly four months.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the system of frequency of the national grid went down at 7:34 am local time, resulting in the breakdown. "System maintenance work is progressing rapidly," it tweeted.

Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir said the restoration work was going on and assured the people that the government was hoping to restore electricity in the country by 10 pm.

Sources in National Power Construction Corporation (NPCC) told The Express Tribune newspaper that Energy Minister Dastgir has given a 10 pm deadline to restore the electricity throughout the country.

Explaining the failure, the minister said the authorities shut down the power generation system at night due to lower demand in winter to save fuel costs.

But when the systems were turned on in the morning, "frequency variation and voltage fluctuation were observed in the south of the country… somewhere between Dadu and Jamshoro" resulting in shutting down of power generating units one by one, he said.

People in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi woke up on Monday with no electricity available anywhere in the metropolis. According to details, the major power breakdown also hit other cities across Pakistan but Karachi was the worst affected.

In Peshawar, a city of over 2.3 million people, some people were reportedly unable to get drinking water as the pumps were powered by electricity. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken strict notice of the situation and ordered a high-level probe.

The premier has constituted a high-level committee and sought an immediate report from the energy minister. Expressing his displeasure, he said that it must be informed what caused such a big electricity breakdown and the responsible officials must be held accountable.

Prime Minister Sharif took strict notice of the power outage and ordered the constitution of a high-level three-member committee to probe the reason behind the breakdown. It is not the first time that the country has faced such a crisis.

Last year in October, Pakistan witnessed a 12-hour power outage due to technical glitches in the electricity distribution system. Pakistan is grappling with one of the country's worst economic crises in recent years amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

The crisis forced the government earlier this month to order shopping malls and markets to close by 8:30 pm for energy conservation purposes.

The sorry state of the country's power sector is emblematic of its ailing economy. The power outages occur frequently due to lack of funds to upgrade aging infrastructure.