KARACHI, June 3: A large number of city localities plunged into darkness as a fault occurred in the transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation on Monday evening.

KESC officials said that the fault — referred to as an under-frequency operation in technical parlance — in the national grid caused some eight KESC grids to be tripped.

“At present, the power demand in the city is more than 1,800 megawatts. The KESC has only 1,500 megawatts for its over 1.7 million consumers in Karachi. The shortfall is being met by resorting to loadshedding,” a KESC spokesman told Dawn from the centralized information cell around midnight.

Calling from different parts of Karachi, people said that they had had the first power cut around 8.30pm.

Aleem Qureshi, a resident of Federal B Area, Block 14, said that while his locality had electricity, Block 7 was in the grip of a power breakdown. “My cable operator is based in Block 7. I was watching news on a private channel when television transmission got interrupted. When I called my cable operator I learnt that his block was without electricity.” He added that his block had faced power breakdowns earlier in the day.

Calling from Gulistan-i-Jauher, Block 17, a resident said that he had noticed on his way back home that all localities from Numaish to Soldier Bazaar, Parsi Colony, Khorasan, Golimar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Gulistan-i-Jauher had been facing a comprehensive power cut.

Calling from North Nazimabad, Block A, a resident said his locality had faced a power breakdown around 9.30pm. “In order to avoid the heat I decided to go to my in-laws in North Karachi, Sector 11-A. When I called them I found that their area was also in the grip of a power shutdown.”

Ibrahim Iqbal, a resident of Clifton, Block 5, said his locality had been facing intermittent power breakdowns since 7pm. “I am an elderly man and live in a highrise building. When there is no electricity, I have to climb the stairs because I cannot use the elevator.” When told that the KESC was grappling with a citywide power breakdown, he said: “Power breakdown or no power breakdown, we live without electricity for at least two hours every day.”

A resident of Scheme 33, near the University of Karachi, said his locality had experienced a power breakdown from 9pm to 10pm.

Meanwhile, the KESC spokesman said that the power utility was alive to the situation and was doing its best to overcome the fault. “An under-frequency operation in the national grid trips KESC grids and feeders. Some time is wasted in reactivating these feeders and grids. Besides, if the under-frequency operation persists in the national grid, the KESC cannot use power being sent by the Water and Power Development Authority which results in a power shortfall.”

He added that in order to overcome the power shortfall, the KESC was carrying out loadshedding in groups I and II by turns. He said that most areas would soon get back their power.

Calling from Saddar and neighbouring localities, some residents said their power supply had been restored after two hour-long power breakdowns.

Saquib Hussain called from Bangalore Town at 6.30pm and told Dawn that his locality had been without electricity since 5am.

Calling from Defence, Phase 6, Khayaban-i-Muslim, a resident said his locality had faced a 30-hour-long power shutdown. “We pay a large number as phone bills every month. If we do not pay bills, the KESC takes punitive action against us and disconnects our power supply. But if the KESC fails to deliver power to us we cannot do anything,” he said.