HYDERABAD: Power supply to many areas — including Shahdadpur, Tandojam, Hala, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Sultanabad, Sheikh Bhrikio, Chambar and Khirpro, besides Hyderabad — was suspended for about six hours on Tuesday after a transformer on Hala Naka Road caught fire and affected the entire Hesco network.

The fire broke out in one of three transformers of the National Grid Company (NGC) at its 220kV grid station at about 6am affecting the Hesco network for the next six hours.

According to the power utility, eight feeders in Hyderabad city and 10 grid stations outside it were affected.

The city’s eight feeders emanating from the Hala Naka grid station remained without electric supply during the course of the repair and restoration work.

Hyderabad and nine other towns remain without electricity for six hours

“Hesco’s 132kV grid stations in Shahdadpur, Tandojam, Hala, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Sultanabad, Sheikh Bhrikio, Chambar and Khirpro were also affected,” according to a Hesco spokesman. He said that the 10 grid stations were supplied electricity through Tando Mohammad Khan grid station. “Like these 10 grid stations, affected feeders of the city are also connected with the alternative system of the NGC,” he said.

He added that high voltage direct current (HVDC) of the Matiari system, which is also connected with Islamkot, was also affected. The HVDC system supplies electricity to Karachi as well.

The fire was brought under control at around 11am. NGC authorities then isolated the burnt out transformer and energised the system through the other two having the same capacity. The process was completed at around 12.30pm.

NGC officials are looking into the actual cause of the fire. They said that the burnt out transformer would be either repaired or replaced.

Power supply to affected areas was managed partly by the NGC and partly by Hesco.

A spokesman for the NGC said in a press release that the disruption in power supply was caused by the fire that damaged the 250 MVA Autotransformer (T-1) on Hala Naka Road. He said the supply to

Hyderabad was fully restored by 12:15pm.

“The other two 220/132kV power transformers and 132kV busbars (the metallic strips that conduct and distribute electricity) have been changed. The Hesco distribution network is now operating normally,” he added.

He said that the NGC, local firefighting department and emergency rescue services worked in close coordination to bring the fire under control.

He explined that the burnt out transformer was isolated in order to prevent any further risk to the personnel, equipment or the system.

He said that the NGC management had ordered a comprehensive investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026