LAHORE: Millions of electricity consumers across southern Punjab are facing up to 10 to 12 hours of daily power outages as the Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) has continued hourly-based loadshedding in rural areas despite intense summer temperatures.

The loadsheding is causing widespread public hardship and raising questions about the utility’s power management.

The prolonged outages are affecting villages across Mepco’s service territory, which covers the divisions of Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sahiwal, where residents complain they are being left without electricity for extended periods during both daytime and night time amid scorching weather.

The consumers said that the repeated interruptions had disrupted domestic life, affected businesses and agriculture and made it difficult for families, particularly children, the elderly and patients, to cope with the extreme heat.

When contacted, Mepco Alipur Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Maqsood Memon confirmed that field offices had been instructed to implement hourly-based loadshedding in rural feeders.

“We have been directed to observe hourly-based loadshedding in rural areas, but we do not know the exact cause behind it,” he said.

The official described the outages as “forced loadshedding in the system”, indicating that the interruptions were being imposed at the system-level rather than by local distribution authorities.

However, the company has not issued any public explanation for the prolonged outages or clarified why rural consumers are bearing the brunt of the power cuts. Nor has it indicated how long the loadshedding regime will continue.

A Mepco official, on the condition of anonymity, told Dawn that the loadshedding was being carried out in the last days of the month to cover line losses. He claimed that the orders had been passed down from government officials and it was being carried out in rural areas of the region.

Mepco Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gull Muhammad Zahid was not available for comment despite efforts to contact him.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2026