Major breakdown: Electricity to be fully restored by 10pm, says Khurram Dastgir

Minister for Energy Khurram Dastagir on Monday said that electricity across the country will be fully restored by 10pm after frequency variation in the national grid triggered a major power breakdown in the entire country.

“Target is to restore power by 22:00 (10pm) local time but trying to restore much before that,” the minister told Reuters.

Separately, in a tweet, he said that electricity had been restored partially in distribution companies of Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Multan and Sukkur.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the system of frequency of the national grid went down at 7:34am today resulting in a widespread breakdown in the system.

“System maintenance work is progressing rapidly,” it tweeted.

وارسک سے گرڈ سٹیشنوں کی بحالی کا آغاز کر دیا گیا ہے اور پچھلے ایک گھنٹے میں اسلام آباد سپلائی کمپنی اور پشاور سپلائی کمپنی کے محدود تعداد میں گرڈ بحال کر دئے گئے ہیں

— Ministry of Energy (@MoWP15) January 23, 2023

The last major power outage in the country, reported in October last year, took more than 12 hours to restore. The electricity blackout took out approximately 8,000MW from the system.

In an interview with Geo News earlier today, Dastgir said the breakdown was not “major”.

“In winter, the demand for electricity reduces nationwide, hence, as an economic measure, we temporarily close down our power generation systems at night.

Meanwhile, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has taken “serious notice” of the country-wide power breakdown.

In a statement issued on Monday afternoon, it directed the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) to submit a detailed report on the electricity blackout.

Malir, Landhi, Gulistan-i-Johar, Akhter Colony, II Chundrigar Road, New Karachi, Gulshan, Ibrahim Haideri, and Korangi in Karachi all experienced power outages.

Imran Rana, a spokesman for K-Electric, acknowledged in a tweet that Karachi’s power supply was also impacted by the nationwide outage.

He claimed that KE teams were evaluating the situation and that the procedure for restoring energy had already begun.