PESHAWAR: Like other parts of the country, the unprecedented prolonged power suspension caused severe problems to consumers across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Power supply to provincial capital was suspended at about 7:30am on Monday that was not restored till late in the evening. Complaints about severe shortage of drinking water poured in from different localities.

People, particularly journalists, said that they repeatedly attempted to get proper information about power restoration but failed to do so as the helpline of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) did not respond.

Power supply was restored in the limits of Peshawar Cantonment at 4pm for one hour only. However, in other parts of the provincial capital consumers continued to suffer. People also complained about the non-availability of water in mosques.

Consumers say Pesco fails to provide proper information to them

The power suspension plunged the entire shopping markets into darkness and as result most of the shops remained closed in Peshawar. “We pulled down shutters of our shops as it is impossible to run the generators on petrol for so many hours,” Zamin Khan, a local trader, said. He said that the owners of mega malls could afford the cost of petrol but small scale shopkeepers had only option to draw the shutters down and leave for home.

He said that on one hand inflation was on its peak and on the other the government was unable to take effective steps at least to take steps for provision of any relief to the poverty-hit people.

The consumers continued sharing messages with each other having contradictory information about restoration of power supply. Many people stated that the power supply was difficult to be restored till midnight. Some said that the restoration process would take at least 27 hours from the time of its suspension.

However, there was no official clarification to satisfy the consumers. The problem got complicated when the land lines of telephones stopped to work due to suspension of power supply. It was learnt that the distribution points (DPs) would not work unless the power supply was restored.

Malik Aziz Ahmad, a telecommunication engineer, told Dawn that power supply was a must for the telephone lines. “In case of power suspension, the system is run through backup for few hours otherwise the lines stop to work automatically,” he said.

Referring to the prolonged power suspension, he said that it was rather impossible to run the communication system through backup of power batteries or generators.

Complete power blackout and gas loadshedding also paralysed routine life in Charsadda district. Consumers were facing hardship due to prolonged blackout of electricity and loadshedding. Traders and daily wagers suffered the most due to power suspension. The inflation-hit people expressed concern over the prevailing energy crisis and demanded of the rulers to resolve the issue or step down.

In Dera Ismail Khan too, power breakdown widely affected people. Power supply from132KV Dera Ismail Khan grid station, 66KV Bandkorai grid station and from Chashma powerhouse remained suspended and severely affected the entire district.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2023