Blackout: NEPRA to probe power breakdown in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of Saturday's country-wide blackout,  the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has constituted a high-powered committee to probe the incident. 

The committee will consist experts from Nepra and the private sector. It will review the facts and make recommendations to avoid such incidents in future.

The blackout occurred minutes before midnight across the country, with citizens taking to social media to report outages.

Energy Minister Omar Ayub Khan said a technical fault was reported at the Guddu power plant at 11:41pm last night when the frequency fell from 50 to zero in seconds.

“We energised Tarbela power plant twice, which initiated the restoration process," he said, adding that electricity has been restored in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Jhang and Multan, while K-Electric has been provided 400MVA.

Omar Ayub said teams are facing difficulties due to heavy fog and the exact reason behind the technical fault will be identified once the fog lifts. "The reason for the breakdown has not been ascertained yet. The technical fault occurred in a particular area," he said.