Energy minister promises Pakistanis power supply will be restored by tonight

Federal Minister for Energy Khurram Dastgir Khan has assured Pakistanis of a complete power supply restoration by isha prayers, after a major power breakdown left large parts of the country without electricity on Thursday.

Parts of Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab witnessed a major power shutdown on Thursday as the electricity supply was suspended in several areas due to a fault in the southern electricity transmission system of the country.

"We will restore the system between maghrib and isha,” Khan said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad. He informed the nation that an inquiry team has been formed to investigate the matter, which will submit its report within five days.

The minister told reporters that a shortfall of 8,000 megawatts emerged due to the breakdown, but at least 4,700 megawatts have been restored.

“Faisalabad and Multan regions have been restored completely,” he said, adding that the Sukkur Electric Supply Company's (SEPCO) supply has been partially restored.

Khan said that it will take a few hours to restore the plants that have tripped and was hopeful that plants providing electricity to Karachi will also be restored.

“Electricity needs to be restored in Quetta and Karachi,” said Khan, adding that the tripping that triggered the breakdown started from the port city and spread to other parts of the country.

Earlier, the Federal Ministry of Energy confirmed the reports of the outages in Sindh and other parts of the country due to "accidental faults" in the southern transmission system.

"Several power plants are tripping in a row due to an accidental fault in the southern transmission system, which is hindering the electricity supply in the southern areas of the country," the ministry tweeted.

The ministry said it was thoroughly investigating the reason of the fault and will restore the power supply system soon.

Meanwhile, officials, told Geo News on the condition of anonymity, that there is a 6,000-megawatt shortfall in the national grid due to the fault. 

KE officials appear in SHC after release of CEO's arrest warrants

KE officials appeared before the Sindh High Court (SHC) after the court issued the arrest warrants for the distributor company's chief executive officer (CEO).

The officials informed the court that the KE wasn't responsible for the power outage.

"The entire country's power system is down," they said.

Earlier, SHC Justice Salahuddin Panhwar issued the arrest warrants for the KE CEO, directing the officials to implement the arrest orders within an hour. He expressed annoyance over the suspension of the power supply since 9:30am, as city courts and the accountability courts within Karachi were also left without power following the breakdown.

He asked how the court could hold proceedings with no electricity.

Karachi's situation

In a statement, Karachi-Electric said that restoration efforts were underway across the metropolis and the power utility's teams were actively monitoring and addressing the situation.

"Strategic installations including the airport and hospitals have been energised," the sole electricity provider of the city said.

Restoration of residential areas is progressing gradually, it said, adding that parts of North Nazimabad, Buffer Zone, Baloch Colony, Nursery, KDA Scheme 1, parts of DHA, and other areas have been energised.

"KE's network is safe and fully operational enabling quick restoration. KE actively remains in touch with all relevant stakeholders on the matter," the utility said.

Cities without electricity

Other districts of Sindh that were without power were Hyderabad, Thatta, Jamshoro, Sujawal, Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar; Mirpurkhas, Umarkot, Sanghar, Nawabshah, Matiari, Tharparkar, Larkana.

Meanwhile Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) has stated that at least 28 districts of Balochistan were left without power due to the fault. He added at least three electricity units providing 220 kvs of power were affected due to the fault.

On the other hand, Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) spokesperson Multan and South Punjab were affected by the power breakdown.

The spokesperson shared that the fault had caused temporary pressure on the LESCO system. He added that a fault in the NTDC grid had shut down two grids and 20 feeders, clarifying that they have restored them via load management.

On the other hand, Multan Electric Power Company (MEPCO) shared that at least 500 kvs of electricity is not coming into its system due to the fault.

The utility company shared that Muzaffargarh, Bhawalnagar, DG Khan, Bhawalpur, Behari and Khanewal were without electricity.