Worst Electricity outage in Pakistan, on Monday (January 23) morning due to a failure in the country’s national grid. According to media sources, power was down in all major cities, including Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar.
What exactly happened?
The Pakistani Ministry of Energy tweeted that there was a “widespread breakdown” in the grid at 7.34 a.m. “Preliminary reports indicate that the National Grid’s system frequency fell at 7:34 a.m. today. The power system experienced widespread failure. “System maintenance work is moving along quickly,” the post stated.
According to Reuters, power minister Khurrum Dastagir said on Geo TV that a frequency fluctuation was observed in the southern part of the country. Between the cities of Jamshoro and Dadu when systems were turned on Monday morning. “There was a voltage fluctuation, and the systems were turned down one by one,” Dastagir explained.
What is the severity of the situation?
Dastagir stated that “this is not a significant crisis,” adding that certain grids in the country had already been restored. “I can tell you that power will be fully restored across the country within the next 12 hours,” the Minister said. According to Dawn!
“The restoration of grid stations has begun from Warsak and Islamabad in the last one hour,” the Energy Ministry tweeted mid-morning. A few number of Ply Company and Peshawar Supply Company grids have been rebuilt.”
According to Khurram Dastgir, the goal is to restore power by 10 p.m.
On Monday, Power Minister Khurram Dastgir stated that the government hoped to restore power to the country by 10 p.m.
“The target is to restore electricity by 22:00 (10 pm) local time, but we’re hoping to restore power considerably sooner,” the minister told Reuters.
A nationwide power outage caused by a “frequency variation” in the national grid early this morning has left. Huge portions of the country are without power, including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, and Quetta.
Dastgir told Geo News shortly after the power outage was announced that the power-producing units are temporarily shut down at night in winter as an economic strategy to reduce fuel expenses.
What is the general state of power in Pakistan?
Pakistan has been suffering from massive power outages for a long time. Worst-case predictions predict that the situation will persist at least many years. The issue reached a climax in the summer of 2022, with protracted countrywide power outages. In early June, the Daily Times reported that Karachi was experiencing power outages lasting up to 15 hours. On the other hand, Lahore was without electricity for about 12 hours.
For decades, power industry investments have been static or declining as a percentage of Pakistan’s GDP. The majority of the country’s power plants operate on imported fuel. And the global supply shock as a result of the water in Ukraine and the post-pandemic demand surge hit them hard. As fuel prices rose and the Pakistani rupee fell against the stronger dollar, Pakistan’s energy import expenditures increased.