KARACHI: While several areas of the metropolis continued to experience prolonged power cuts on Sunday, the K-Electric claimed to have reduced the duration of loadshedding in its so-called high-loss areas by one and half hours.

Several parts of the city were reported to have been remained without electricity for long hours.

The KE resorted to unannounced loadshedding in most areas of the city following a nationwide shortfall of electricity due to insufficient fuel availability.

The utility has been carrying out loadshedding even in the areas which itself declared exempted from loadshedding because it was facing shortfall from national grid.

It had also increased the loadshedding times for its high-loss areas causing hardship and agony to hundreds of thousands of residents, including elderly persons, students and children.

KE claims to have reduced loadshedding duration

Supply from national grid enhanced

On Sunday, a spokesperson for the power utility said that power supply in the city improved after supply from the national grid was enhanced.

The KE spokesperson said that power supply from the national grid to Karachi had been curtailed by 300 MW.

“However, the supply has been increased to 1,000 MW, which the KE has begun diverting to its consumers,” he added.

The spokesperson said that the additional supply had enabled the power utility to reduce the duration of load management in areas with high losses by one and half hours as many areas of the city continued receiving uninterrupted electricity.

No respite in sight

Sources in the KE told Dawn that there was no likelihood of any respite in the ongoing loadshedding as the shortage of electricity would persist until the first unit of 450MW of the KE’s flagship 900 MW power plant became operational.

The power utility had earlier claimed that the first unit of the power plant would be ready to be commissioned by the summer of 2021, and the second unit of 450MW by the end of this year.

However, a senior official of the power utility told Dawn on the condition of anonymity that the plant’s first unit had already successfully achieved first fire in March. “There are some steps post first fire that are currently under way.”

The official added that power from the plant was scheduled to be added to the grid towards end of or shortly after Ramazan.

The KE official said that the RLNG-based power plant would go a long way in meeting city’s power demand.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2022