KARACHI, April 27: The entire city experienced prolonged power cuts on Wednesday, with Federal B Area being the worst affected, as a technical fault on the national grid dealt a blow to the fragile KESC network. Sources told Dawn that a 2,500-megawatt shortage was created on Wednesday when at least three power-generating stations of the Water and Power Development Authority broke down at around 11.22pm.

“At that time, the KESC was importing around 500 megawatts from the national grid. The fault not only caused a large number of KESC feeders to trip but also forced KESC to export 200 megawatts to the national grid,” they explained, adding at that time the KESC was experiencing a power shortage of over 700 megawatts -– nearly one-third of the electrical demand of the city.

The sources said when the feeders were subsequently being normalized, a power transformer – which normally supplies electricity to over 25,000 consumers – at the Al-Noor power station broke down, creating an acute power crisis in Federal B Area. Repair work on the transformer was on till the filing of this report.

Calling from many city areas, residents complained that they experienced unannounced loadshedding.

A resident of Garden East, Edward Street, said his locality experienced a prolonged power breakdown on Wednesday.

“When I received no proper response from the centralized complaint centre, I drove to the regional KESC centre to find out why electricity was not being restored to our locality. The KESC staff told me that they were under instructions to keep the entire locality without electricity for over two hours. I wish the KESC would advertise this fact in the newspapers that they are carrying out loadshedding,” he said.

A resident of Federal B Area, Block 16, said his locality remained without electricity for over four hours on Wednesday. “When I called my complaint centre, a telephone attendant told me rudely that he had no idea why the power breakdown had occurred and that he was in no position to tell me when the power supply would be restored. When I asked for the name of the attendant, he hung up on me. Indignant, he went over to the complaint centre and was told that a transformer had broken down and it was being repaired. Surely, the KESC telephone attendant could have told me this without being impolite,” he said.

A resident of Federal B Area, Block 14, called to say that in addition to a four-hour power breakdown, his locality was experiencing another power cut. “My daughter lives in Block 7 of Federal B Area and she tells me that her locality is also without electricity,” he said.

An elderly man called from PECHS, Block 2, and said he was most inconvenienced by frequent and prolonged power cuts. “I am 70 years old, and I feel extremely restless when the fan stops working because of a power breakdown. The KESC could devise a method of announcing timing of power cuts in advance so that we could schedule our lives accordingly,” he suggested.

A resident of Scheme-33 said his locality experienced a power breakdown on Wednesday from 4pm to 7.40pm.

A resident of North Nazimabad, Block R, called to say that his locality remained without electricity for two hours the previous night. He added that on Wednesday, a power breakdown occurred between 10am and 1pm.

A resident of Pak Colony on Manghopir Road told Dawn that his locality experienced a power shutdown from 4pm to 6.30pm. He said he was convinced that it was when a complaint centre of the KESC was stormed and ransacked, only then the staff of the power utility discharged their duties efficiently. He recalled that a KESC complaint centre was damaged by an angry mob on Sunday following a prolonged power cut in the locality.

A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 6, told Dawn that his locality experienced a recurring fault of breakdown of one of the three phases.

“One power phase of the electrical supply keeps breaking down. Area residents lodge complaints with our complaint centres and with the centralized complaint centre. But the KESC vehicles do not show up as often as complaints are lodged, with the result that we have to spend a long time without one or two phases,” he said.