KARACHI, July 3: Power breakdowns continued to occur on Thursday in many localities of the city while the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation took a long time to rectify the faults that had occurred on Wednesday.

Calling from North Nazimabad, Block G, a resident said that for the past many days people in his locality have been suffering from intermittent power failures every day.

“These breakdowns do not follow a schedule. As a result, we are daily caught unawares by such breakdowns. If the KESC announces a loadshedding schedule, it would make our lives very simple,” he said.

A resident of Defence, Phase VI, said his locality had faced a 10-hour-long breakdown the previous day. “Even today power breakdowns continued to occur. I drove to the regional complaint centre on July 2 where I was told that all the vehicles had been sent to rectify faults in different phases of DHA. I returned home to wait for a KESC vehicle, which turned up after an interval of almost four hours.”

An official of the Met Office called from Gulshan-i-Iqbal to say that his locality had faced acute power breakdowns lately. “While it is very hot these days, statistically it is not as hot as it used to be.

On Wednesday the mercury rose to 39 degrees Centigrade. But we must remember that the highest temperature in the month of July is 42 degrees Centigrade. As a rule, the fragile transmission and distribution system of the KESC collapses whenever the mercury crosses the 40 degrees Centigrade mark.”

A consumer from Metroville-III told Dawn that recently his locality had been in the grip of intermittent power failures.

Calling from Muslimabad, a resident said that no matter how prolonged a power breakdown occurred in his locality, the hydrant of the area never lost its electricity. “I really have no idea what the real arrangement is, but I know for a fact that the hydrant is never without electricity. This is in a way good for us, because we are never without water even during the days of acute water shortage.”