First no food, now no power in Pakistan: The country’s worsening situation explained

The situation in Pakistan is worrying. Its economic crisis is going from bad to worse with forex reserves declining to $4.343 billion just enough for two weeks. The country is already reeling from a food crisis, and on Monday, it plunged into darkness, leaving nearly 220 million people without electricity.

A power failure was witnessed across Pakistan on Monday following a breakdown of its national electricity grid. Major cities like Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar faced blackouts.

Also read: Pakistan’s crippling economic crisis: Is the country going the Sri Lanka way?

What happened in Pakistan?

On Monday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Energy wrote on Twitter that at 7.34 am there was a “widespread breakdown” in the grid. “According to initial reports, the system frequency of the National Grid went down at 7:34 this morning, causing a widespread breakdown in the power system. System maintenance work is progressing rapidly,” it said.

ابتدائی اطلاعات کے مطابق آج صبح 7:34 پر نیشنل گرڈ کی سسٹم فریکوئنسی کم ہوئ جس سے بجلی کے نظام میں وسیع بریک ڈاؤن ہوا
سسٹم کی بحالی پر کام تیزی سےجاری ہے

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

According to Power Minister Khurrum Dastagir, the grid failure followed a “frequency variation” in southern Pakistan. A frequency variation was reported in the southern part of the country between the cities of Jamshoro and Dadu when systems were turned on on Monday morning, he told Geo TV channel, reports Reuters.

Why did the grid fail?

The minister told the news channel that since the electricity demand reduces in winter, they temporarily shut down power generation systems at night as an “economic measure”. When they turned it on in the morning, there was “frequency variation and voltage fluctuation” and subsequently “power generating units shut down one by one”, he said.

How bad is the current situation?

“This is not a major crisis,” Dastagir said, adding that some grids in the country had already been restored.

Around 9.22 am local time, the energy ministry informed on Twitter that the restoration of grid stations had started from Warsak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan. It also said that limited grids had been restored in Islamabad and Peshawar.

“I can assure you that power will be fully restored across the country within the next 12 hours,” Dastagir said.

The latest report in Dawn says that power will be fully restored across Pakistan by 10 pm local time Monday.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari slammed the government, saying that the “incompetent cabal of crooks” was bringing the country down.

Major power breakdown in Federal Capital since early morning but am told it may be far beyond just Islamabad. Anyone know the situation? Incompetent cabal of crooks bringing the country down while they save their looted wealth abroad! This is what Conspirators wanted?

— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) January 23, 2023

Journalist Haris Tohid said the power breakdown raised fears that “a country with a fragile economy is heading towards a serious energy crisis in harsh winter”.

A massive power breakdown across Pakistan raises fears among many that a country with fragile economy is heading towards a serious energy crisis in harsh winter.

— Owais Tohid (@OwaisTohid) January 23, 2023

Who has been hit?

Several cities are struggling with power cuts including Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta, Lahore, and Peshawar have been hit.

K-electric, the Karachi-based power utility company, said that were reports of multiple outages from different parts of the city. Its spokesperson Imran Rana said that the company’s priority was to restore power to strategic facilities like hospitals and airports, reports Dawn.

The civil aviation authority said that major airports across the country were not facing power-related problems. “The situation is under control thanks to the alternative systems. We are using standby power to provide uninterrupted electricity to all the airports,” the authority’s spokesperson said in a statement. He added that the electricity supply at the Peshawar airport has been restored.

There was a massive power outage across Balochistan after three transmission lines in the province tripped.

In Islamabad, close to 117 grid stations were affected because of the breakdown, reports Dawn. The spokesperson of the Islamabad Electric Supply Company said that power was being restored in a phased manner.

Businesses and hospitals have been worst hit by the power outage. Several factories had down shutters on Monday. Kamran Arshad, managing director of a Lahore-based textile company, told Al Jazeera, “We operate on 40 per cent gas and 60 per cent electricity but there is already a gas shortage, and with the power outage today, our factory operations are closed down for the day,” he said, adding that losses incurred because of the power cut could be in billions.

A public hospital in Islamabad had to shut its operation theatres and another in Karachi was working on backup.

In Lahore, a closing notice was posted on Orange Line metro stations, with rail workers guarding the sites and trains parked on the rails. It was unknown when the metro system would be up and restored, reports The Associated Press.

How severe is the energy situation in Pakistan?

Pakistan gets at least 60 per cent of its electricity from fossil fuels, while nearly 27 per cent of the electricity is generated by hydropower. The contribution of nuclear and solar power to the nation’s grid is about 10 per cent.

The country is grappling with one of the country’s worst economic crises in recent years amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves. This compelled the government earlier this month to order shopping malls and markets to close by 8:30 pm for energy conservation purposes.

But even before this month, the country has been battling with a power crisis. Two major outages were reported in October last year and they took more than 12 hours to restore.

Also read: Explained: After political upheaval, why Pakistan is facing an energy crisis

Last summer, across the nation, blackouts lasted for hours. Even amid inflated electricity bills, major cities like Lahore, Islamabad and Multan faced up to eight to 10 hours of load-shedding and small towns and villages faced 14-hour blackouts.

The power situation has worsened primarily due to inadequate transmission capacity, flawed strategy, imprudent use of available resources, and transmission and distribution losses, according to an editorial in Dawn published last June.

With inputs from agencies

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