24 hours after the country was plunged into darkness, the energy ministry claimed on Tuesday that all grid stations supplying electricity that went offline the day before due to a “frequency mismatch” had been “restored”. had gone, due to which millions of people were deprived of electricity. .
“All 1,112 grid stations across the country were restored within 24 hours,” the ministry tweeted, along with a table showing that power was back online at 6:25 a.m.
All 1112 grid stations restored within 24 hours nationwide Alhamdulillah! pic.twitter.com/nGsAyKj7zs
— Ministry of Energy (@MoWP15) January 24, 2023
Although the government claims that electricity has been brought to an end, there are some areas of the country where electricity has not reached yet. People in Karachi were complaining that the supply in the city has not been fully restored and many areas are still offline.
KE says ‘all grid stations operational’
On the other hand, K Electric’s spokesperson says that currently all grid stations in the city are operational and restoration is underway at the local level.
In its power update at 9:34 a.m., the power utility added that the situation in the metropolis has improved after the supply from the national grid was restored last night.
“Power has been restored to important facilities including airports, hospitals, water pumping stations.”
اس وقت کے الیکٹرک کے تمام گرڈز فعال ہیں اور علاقائی سطح پر بحالی کا عمل بھی جاری ہے ۔ ترجمان کے الیکٹرک
— Imran Rana, Spokesperson, K-Electric (@imranrana21) January 24, 2023
تاہم سسٹم کو سٹیبل رکھنے کے لئے شہر میں محدود پیمانے پر عارضی لوڈ مینجمنٹ کی جا سکتی ہے، ترجمان کےالیکٹرک
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However, the official added that temporary load management can be done in the city to keep the system stable.
What happened?
The country was plunged into darkness on Monday morning due to a fault in the national grid, which Power Minister Khurram Dastgir blamed on “voltage surges” in transmission lines in the country’s south.
Speaking to JEE News soon after the power breakdown was reported, Dastgir said that generating units are temporarily shut down at night as an economic measure to save fuel costs.
“Frequency change was reported between Jamshoro and Dadu in the southern part of the country when the system was turned on one by one at 7:30 am today,” the minister said on Monday.
Analysts and officials blame the power problems on an aging electricity network, which, like the national infrastructure, is in dire need of an upgrade that the government says it cannot afford.
Notice of Prime Minister’s Committee, Nepra
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, taking strict notice of the power outage, ordered the formation of a high-level three-member committee to investigate the causes of the breakdown.
The prime minister – who was angered by the impact of the breakdown – also sought a report from the energy minister, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.
The Prime Minister also directed the authorities to restore power supply immediately.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) also said in a statement that it had taken “serious notice” of the power outage and directed the NTDC to submit a “detailed report”.
The statement also said the regulator had previously imposed penalties for similar outages in 2021 and 2022. He also informed that Nepra has continuously issued instructions and recommendations to deal with such incidents in future.
Internet and mobile services
There are also reports of mobile and internet service being affected in various pockets of cities after prolonged power breakdowns across the country.
Telecom companies also ran out of stored fuel to temporarily operate their towers and ensure smooth flow of services, leading to delays in providing services to customers.
Losses of ‘$70m’
Business was also shut down due to the power outage, resulting in massive losses.
A spokesperson of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) said on Monday that the textile sector has suffered a huge loss of 70 million dollars so far due to the breakdown.
The spokesman said the widespread power outages badly affected industries across the country.
Previous breakdown
In October last year Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta, Multan and Faisalabad faced power outage.
At that time, the power minister had said that around 8000 megawatts of electricity went offline.
At the time, Dastgir had said that the simultaneous failure of two power lines, which led to the breakdown, was of concern to the government at the time. He also announced that a thorough inquiry has been ordered and promised action.
Power Outage Timeline
The country’s generation and distribution network has experienced eight major power breakdowns over the past nine years.
In 2014 and 2017, faults at the Tarbela power station caused nationwide blackouts, while in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, fog, frequency variation and faults at the Guddu power plant were blamed for the faults. .
Each time the party in power announced a comprehensive inquiry and vowed to fix the problems, but despite several inquiries, nothing happened.
