or the citizens of Lahore, Ramazan 2022 has begun on a rather dark note, so to say, as unscheduled and prolonged power outages are the order of the day. The onset of summer has made matters worse.

Reportedly, the electricity shortfall has reached 1,000 megawatts in the city. Several factors, especially heavy line losses caused by large-scale unabated power theft, faulty transmission lines, and a major drop in power generation at the national grid, are cited as reasons for the current power crisis.

The duration of intermittent outages in the provincial capital is roughly 2-3 hours a day.

Sources in the power sector reveal that the crisis isn’t likely to be over any time soon. This means, no respite in the holy month of Ramazan.

Areas where power outages have been reported include Gulberg, Cantt, Mughalpura, Royal Park, Qila Gujjar Singh, Hamza Town, Kot Lakhpat, Sant Nagar (Civil Secretariat), Shad Bagh, Harbanspura, Shahdara, Johar Town, Garden Town, Chauburji, Thokar Niaz Beg, Raiwind, Sanda, Badami Bagh, Riwaz Garden and Tajpura Scheme.

Although the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) officials have linked the crisis to low generation of electricity at the national level, which they attribute to the shortage of furnace oil, LNG and the suspension of hydro generation at Tarbela Dam, large-scale power theft by consumers and faulty transmission lines across the city are also among the reasons that cannot be ruled out.

Clearly, Lesco has failed to ensure an uninterrupted power supply to the citizens despite excess generation capacity and the promises made. Old and faulty transmission lines and transformers have not been replaced in a long time. The truth is that the company has failed to invest and improve upon its power transmission and distribution infrastructure in the city.

Sources say that the crisis would not have deepened, had the officials taken strict action against its staff found complicit in electricity theft.

According to the Lesco chief, Chaudhry Amin, the electricity demand in the provincial metropolis has reached 4,100MW whereas Lesco is getting 3,100MW supply from the national grid. However, the company has decided that there will be no power outages at Sehr and Iftar times during the entire month of Ramazan.

As the mercury levels have been rising, similar complaints have been made by citizens from different parts of the city. Amjad Abbas, a resident of Shahdara, says, “We are often without electricity for up to 12 hours, due to which we have to face water shortage also and the WASA tubewells remain shut most of the time.”

Muhammad Iqbal, a dweller of Qila Gujjar Singh, laments the fact that the power supply to his area had been disrupted up to a dozen times in a day. “Come to think of it, all this is happening in the month of Ramazan.

“No schedule [for load shedding] has been made public, but the power outages continue,” he says ruefully.

n the other hand, a panel of lawyers has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against unannounced power outages in the city. They have nominated Lesco and other concerned agencies as parties to the case, and sought remedy from the court.

Talking to TNS, the Lesco front man, Chaudhry Amin says that “all-out efforts are being made to restore power supply at the national grid. The situation should normalise in a week or two.”

According to him, the electricity demand in the provincial metropolis has risen to 4,100MW whereas Lesco is getting 3,100MW supply from the national grid. However, he reassures the consumers that the company has decided that there will be no power outages at Sehr and Iftar times during the entire month of Ramazan. In this connection, the Lesco has submitted its demand and supply statistics to the Power Division to formulate a zero load-shedding strategy.

Chaudhry Amin says that power theft has nothing to do with the current power crisis. “Neither line losses nor faulty transmission lines should be blamed for the situation. Rest assured that we are trying our best to help.”

The writer is a senior   journalist and can be reached at   ahsanzia155@gmail.com