LAHORE: As the city continues to face loadshedding for hours on a daily basis, Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) says that the situation would improve in the next couple of days, as the plans related to increasing power generation in a bid to bring down loadshedding to two hours as per direction of the prime minister is under consideration these days.

“Friday and Saturday were very hard days for us, as the electricity demand surged to 5,500MW while our electricity quota is 4,500MW, creating a gap of 1,000MW between demand and supply,” Lesco Chief Executive Officer Chaudhry Muhammad Amin told Dawn on Sunday.

“However, the situation on Sunday improved, as the maximum demand surged to 5,000MW once in peak hours and later decreased to 4,800MW. But we faced a shortfall of around 800MW”.

On the other hand, the people continue to suffer from loadshedding reportedly for six to eight hours these days besides brownouts caused by the overloading of the system from time to time. “For the last many days, we have not slept well, even for two continuous hours due to the worst ever power disruption,” Ilays, of Township, said.

Meanwhile, the prices of UPS and batteries have gone up by Rs5,000 more than the last month’s rates due to an increase in their demand caused by loadshedding. “Last month, the price of a battery, I wanted to purchase, was Rs17,000. But I couldn’t purchase it due to financial issues. But, a couple of days, when I went to the market to buy it, its price was Rs21,000. Similarly, the price of a UPS also increased by Rs5,000 or so per unit,” Ramzan, a resident of Johar Town, said.

“So I request the government to check the manufacturers of batteries and UPS, fleecing the customers who are already under great financial stress due to unprecedented price hike, hike in petroleum products prices and other issues,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2022