KARACHI, Sept 30: Prolonged power cuts on Friday annoyed consumers of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation and the utility officials failed to attend to complaints on time. A resident of Clifton, Block 5, told Dawn that his locality experienced prolonged power breakdowns the previous night.

“Our area residents lodged many complaints about the power breakdown, but the KESC staff fixed the fault only when it was convenient for them.

“Actually they told me that a motorized rectification van was in the area and will respond to our complaint only when they felt like it. At least they were honest about it,” he said.

A resident of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Block 17, said that his locality had been in the grip of intermittent power breakdowns for quite some time.

“Even last night we faced a prolonged power breakdown, caused by the detachment of a cable from a pole-mounted transformer. On Friday, another spell of a power cut made our lives miserable. I wonder why all the telephone numbers at 118, also known as the centralized complaint centre, remain engaged all the time. Either these centres are deluged with complaints, which does not reflect well on the performance of the KESC, or they leave their phone sets off the hook,” he said.

A resident of North Nazimabad, Block L, said every time he saw a KESC notice about shutdown in a neighbouring locality, he felt sure that his area would also experience a prolonged power cut.

Calling from PECHS, Block 6, a consumer told Dawn that his locality faced a prolonged power breakdown in the early hours of Friday.

“When our power supply was restored in the morning after a prolonged shutdown, we assumed that our miseries were over and we would be able to catch up on our sleep. Our hopes, however, turned out to be short-lived, for we had another spell of a power breakdown which lasted for a couple of hours,” he narrated his ordeal.

Calling from Azizabad, Federal B Area, a resident said his locality had experienced a power breakdown at 10 pm on Thursday. “I had just got back from work and drove to the local complaint centre to sort out matters. But confusion prevailed at the complaint centre. I was told that our power supply would be restored around midnight. It was actually restored at around 4.30am. It is strange that the estimate of KESC staff about the duration of the power breakdown was so off the mark. I am tempted to say that they lied about the duration of the power breakdown.”

However, a KESC spokesman said the power utility faced no unusual power crisis. He said over 100 complaint centres across the city dealt with the complaints of consumers as early as they could.