PESHAWAR: As the heat wave persists, different localities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are experiencing prolonged power outages daily.

In Peshawar, the power consumers, including women on Saturday held protest meetings in different areas against the power outages and demanded smooth power supply to their areas.

The main Charsadda road remained blocked for some time, which also affected the traffic flow. The protesters said the situation was even worse in rural areas, where sixteen to twenty hours of power outages have become order of the day.

“It is very difficult to spend even an hour without electricity in such extreme heat,” one Mushtaq Khan of Bakhshipul said.

Criticising the Peshawar Electric Supply company (Pesco), he said whenever complaints were logged with the relevant authorities; they stated due to power theft, the area has been marked as a high-loss zone.

“But since we pay our bills regularly, why are we being deprived of electricity?” he questioned, urging Pesco to avoid power outages in their areas.

Likewise, residents of Pejagi, and other localities complained about prolonged power outages. A Pakistan People’s Party provincial office-bearer said that power outages had made their lives extremely miserable.

They said power outages on the pretext of high-loss feeders are injustice to those who are neither involved in electricity theft nor avoid paying their bills.

It may be mentioned that Pesco had disconnected the power supply to tube-wells in Shaheen Muslim Town, Gulbahar, and other city areas, resulting in a severe water shortage as well.

“If this issue isn’t resolved promptly, it may lead to confrontation between operators and the public, as the preparations are underway for protests on Phundoo Road. Despite paying bills, water supply closure is deemed an act of oppression,” they said.

Residents of Haji Camp, Sethi Town, and surrounding areas have been without electricity since morning. “We regularly pay monthly bills, even then Pesco resorts to prolonged power outages,” a consumer Hassan Ali commented.

Another consumer, Sahibzada said that those living in the main city areas were experiencing extreme heat and humidity, severely affecting the health, work and routine activity.

According to reports, the people in Mardan, Pabbi Nowshera and Charsadda are also facing severe problems due to heat wave. The prolonged power cuts, frequent tripping and low voltage have also caused shortage of water.

A Pesco spokesman, however, said that in some areas power suspension (power shutdown) from 6am to 12 noon was due to routine maintenance work while the heat wave was also multiplying the problems. He said the current demand of electricity was 4000 megawatt while supply was 2800 MW, a gap of 1200 MW.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2025