Karachi hit by blackouts as KE cites gas shortage

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The area of Liaquatabad plunges into darkness due to loadshedding.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star
The area of Liaquatabad plunges into darkness due to loadshedding.—Fahim Siddiqi / White Star

KARACHI: While K-Electric has been carrying out up to 14 hours of loadshedding daily in several areas of the metropolis on the pretext of line losses, it has now started phase-wise cutting power supply to areas previously exempted in the name of load management.

Many areas plunged into darkness on Friday night due to loadshedding, which K-Electric blamed on a nationwide shortage in the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Areas exempted from loadshedding — including Defence, Clifton, PECHS, Muhammad Ali Society, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Nazima­bad, North Nazimabad, etc — also experienced up to two hours of outages during the evening peak hours and late night.

In a statement posted on X at 7pm, KE Spokesperson Imran Rana said: “Due to a nationwide RLNG constraint stemming from international supply disruptions and delayed cargoes — affecting generation across the country including KE’s territory — KE may need to undertake load management as an extreme, last-resort measure during evening/night peak hours, if necessitated.”

The power utility said that it was in close coordination with the Pakistan LNG Limited and relevant authorities and was making all efforts for early normalisation.

According to official data shared by KE earlier this year, the utility generated 19 per cent of its own electricity, 252 MW, from LNG in December 2024.

In addition to its own generation of around 1,600 MW, KE draws 1,000 to 1,100 MW from the national grid to meet peak demand of up to 3,400 MW.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2026

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