KARACHI, June 20: Power breakdowns continued to affect the lives of subscribers of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation on Thursday.

Residents of Federal B. Area, blocks 14, 17, 18 and 19 told Dawn that power supply to their area had been erratic ever since the KESC overhauled a pole-mounted transformer in the area.

“We face brief but intermittent power shutdowns everyday. It is beyond comprehension why the KESC switches off power supply to our area so frequently. The power shutdowns are obviously not due to any fault because they cannot be rectified so quickly,” a resident of the area told Dawn.

Aleem Qureshi, calling from Federal B. Area, Block 14, said that his block, as well as Block 7, had been in the grip of power shutdowns for long.

A resident of PECHS, Block 2, told Dawn her locality had been without electricity for more than three hours the previous night. “When I called my regional complaint centre, they told me that it was an isolated fault. It was absurd because the entire neighbourhood was plunged in darkness,” she said.

A resident of North Nazimabad, Block A, told Dawn that for more than two hours, his locality had been without electricity the previous night. “The telephone lines at 118 remained busy. We could not ascertain what was wrong with our power supply or when it would be restored,” he said.

A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 11, told Dawn his locality had been without electricity since 3.30pm.

Mukhtar Ahmed, a resident of Orangi Town, Sector 11.5, told Dawn that his area faced many power shutdowns throughout the day.

Sajjad Mehdi, calling from SITE, said that the industrial area had not had electricity for the past four days. He said he had to go from one complaint centre to another to get his complaint registered.