KARACHI, Aug 1: Unable to generate the amount of electricity required to meet the power demands of its 1.7 million consumers, the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) resorted to loadshedding on Thursday, when the Water and Power Development Authority, in the throes of an electricity crisis at present, refused to supply the required magnitude of megawatts.

A spokesman for the KESC told Dawn that the power utility had carried out one-hour loadshedding by rotation from 10:40 am to 5:05 pm. “The power shortage — the difference between electricity demand and supply — ranged between 150 megawatts and 200 megawatts. The second phase of loadshedding began (at) 8:25 pm, which will continue till midnight.”

A resident of Orangi Town told Dawn that her television set had caught fire due to the abrupt but frequent power shutdowns. “My television set was connected to a stabilizer, but the variation in voltage was so high that even the stabilizer was short-circuited, thus exposing the television set to the ruinous effect of the voltage swing,” she said.

Electronics engineers maintain that domestic appliances, such as computers, refrigerators, television sets, etc, cannot withstand the voltage swings and transient currents that abrupt power shutdowns generate. They add that most electronics items are made of integrated circuits which are not meant to operate on vacillating voltages.

A resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Block 6, said it was beyond his comprehension why the KESC shut off the power supply only for 15-20 minutes. “Don’t you think the KESC is honour-bound to inform its customers of the reason of such abrupt power shutdowns?” he asked. He explained that such brief power breakdowns took place in addition to the loadshedding.

A resident of Federal B Area said that he preferred announced loadshedding to unannounced power cuts. “Now that I know that the KESC is carrying out loadshedding, I do not feel angry. Of course, they have a power shortage, which they will meet by carrying out loadshedding. But unannounced power cuts get to me,” he said.