LAHORE, July 26: With intolerable heat and humidity taking its toll during the monsoon, power supply has again started playing hide and seek with the most of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LesCo) consumers.

The complaints of electricity failures and wild fluctuation kept pouring in at newspaper offices, with most of the complainants expressing frustration, anger and helplessness.

“It is total chaos once the heat is on,” says Malik Iftikhar of Samanabad.

When rain starts, power is first casualty. Even before the rain, the power supply gives in to the wind preceding the downpour. The usual excuse given by the power planners is that the ageing distribution system cannot sustain wind pressure.

He says when it stops raining and humidity sets in, electricity supply is cut off with LesCo employees telling every one that the surge in demand has necessitated shedding of load. Where should the people go?

“In monsoon, it would either be winds or rains or humidity,” says Aftab of Faisal Town. “All three weather conditions cause electricity failure in their own way. So, the reasons differ but the result remains the same. As the monsoon season visits the region every year during these months since eternity, why no one tells the power planners to plan accordingly. It is psychologically taxing when the LesCo staff educates consumers on technical reasons of the power failure rather than restoring the supply,” he says.

No one knows whether it is planned loadshedding or the power failure is caused by some technical fault, says Mr. Mansoor from Valencia Town. They all are mixed so badly and no one cares to explain the difference, he adds. “After waiting for a suspected interval of loadshedding, when one calls the LesCo area office, he is told that it was some technical fault and power would return shortly. It hardly comes back for few minutes before disappearing again and the complainant is told that regular loadshedding has started. When and if electricity returns, the wild fluctuations put every gadget at risk. That is the kind of psychological pressure that power planners are exerting on people,” he lamented.