Lahore is losing power after every 15 minutes to half an hour in some areas, indefinitely, despite the informed hours of load shedding ranging from five to six hours in the city. The only respite from the heat is the mild drop in temperature as compared to last week.

People are suffering and daily life is being affected. Many heavy electricity consuming appliances such as refrigerators, freezers and even UPSs are short-circuiting and being destroyed due to the intermittent outages.

Commercial, as well as household work, is being affected, with people losing sleep as well due to long hours of load shedding in the night with the accompanying heat.

LESCO has been facing a shortfall of 700 megawatts (MW), which has been made worse by a surge in electricity consumption due to the summer.

In Karachi, most areas are also suffering from load shedding, with some facing six to eight hours of outages and others reporting only two to three hours of outages.

Temperatures continue to stay in the high 30s or low 40s, feeling a lot worse due to the humidity being at 60 per cent.

Power shortage

The power shortfall in the country has exceeded 5000 MW, which has led to the long hours of load shedding.

Pakistan has the capability of generating 21,447 MW while the total demand has now exceeded 26,500 MW.

At least 11,000 MW is being generated from private power plants, 4,868 MW from hydropower sources, 1,104 MW from thermal power and 1,260 MW from wind sources.