Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir announced on Tuesday that electricity has been fully restored at grid stations across Pakistan, however, he cautioned that there will be a shortage of electricity for the next two days.
“Power at all 1,112 stations of the national grid has been restored,” Dastgir announced on Twitter.
Explaining the reason behind the massive breakout on Monday, Dastagir said that there was a “delay in synchronization” between Tarbela and Mangla power plants on Monday morning, resulting in power outage across the country.
“But with the support of the Power Division, Wapda and other departments, we fixed the technical problem after which power at systems across the country was restored.
“Today, at 5:15am, the system was completely restored across the country,” Dastgir said.
Load management to continue
However, the minister pointed out that “limited load management” will continue across the country as nuclear and coal power plants, generating 6,600 megawatts and 3,500MW, respectively, will take another 48 to 72 hours to restart.
“Until these plants start running, there will be limited load management, excluding industrial users.”
Fuel shortage
Dastgir also rebuffed the rumors of fuel shortage in the country. He said that the concerned authorities understand people have to pay bills so they avoid using power plants that require a lot of energy, unless necessary.
Foreign intervention
When asked about the investigation into the country-wide power breakdown, Dastagir said that the government is not overlooking chances of “foreign intervention such as hacking of systems,” however its chances are very low, he added. The minister further said that this was not the first incident, “there have been incidents previously”.
PM Shehbaz apologizes
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif apologized for the prolonged breakdown and vowed accountability for anyone held responsible.
“On behalf of my government, I would like to express my sincere regrets for the inconvenience our citizens suffered due to power outage yesterday,” PM said in a Twitter.
Power outages reported in Karachi
On Tuesday afternoon, K-Electric confirmed that power supply to residential and commercial feeders in had been restored and that rehabilitation of industrial feeders was also underway.
However, power outages were reported in different areas of Karachi on, including Defense, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, North Karachi, Federal B Areas, Gulshan, Jacob Lines, Korangi, Landhi and Qayyumabad.
Another frequency issue in Lahore
Separately, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) confirmed that another “frequency issue” was reported in the city.
“After yesterday’s major power breakdown, power was restored in all areas of Lesco late at night. However, load management is being done in some areas due to a frequency issue,” it tweeted.
Electricity restored in KP
Chief executive of Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco), Arif Mehmood Sadozai, said that power had been restored to residential, commercial and industrial feeders across the province.
He further said that loadshedding could be carried out on a limited scale due to “load management”, adding that he was personally overseeing the matter.
Electricity to be fully restored in Balochistan by tonight
Meanwhile, Quetta Electric Supply Company has said that electricity was partially restored across the province from the 220kV Uch-Sibbi transmission line. Power situation in the province will further improve after the Dera Ghazi Khan-Loralai transmission line is repaired
“Electricity will be fully restored in Quetta and other areas by tonight,” said Qesco spokesperson.
