Power outages were reported across Pakistan on Monday morning after the frequency of the national grid went down, according to the Ministry of Energy.
The ministry said the National Grid frequency system went down at 7.34am today, leading to a widespread system failure. “System maintenance work is progressing quickly,” he tweeted.
Speaking to Geo News, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir said the fault was not “serious”.
“During the winter, the demand for electricity decreases nationally, so as an economic measure we temporarily close our energy systems for the night.
“However, when the systems were switched on this morning, in the south of the country […] somewhere between Dadu and Jamshoro […] fluctuations in frequency and voltage were observed which caused the power plants to shut down one after another,” he explained.
Dastagir further said that the restoration of substations in Peshawar and Islamabad has started. “I can assure you that power supply will be fully restored across the country within the next 12 hours,” he added.
DawnNewsTV earlier reported that large parts of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi, Quetta, Peshawar and Lahore, were without power.
KE assesses the situation in Karachi
In Karachi, power cuts were reported in Malir, Landhi, Gulistan-i-Johar, Akhter Colony, II Chundrigar Road, New Karachi, Gulshan, Ibrahim Haideri and Korangi.
K-Electric spokesperson Imran Rana confirmed in a tweet that the nationwide outage has also affected power in Karachi.
He said KE teams are assessing the situation and the process of restoring electricity has started.
Three transmission lines in Baluchistan
Meanwhile, Quetta Electric Supply Company spokesperson Muhammad Afzal told Dawn.com that three transmission lines in the province – 220 kV Uch-Sibbi, 220 kV Dadu-Khuzdar and 220 kV Dera Murad Jamali – were down.
“This resulted in massive power outage in Balochistan,” he said.
The affected cities include Quetta, Pishin, Qilla Abdullah, Chaman, Loralai Zhob, Qilla Saifullah, Mastung, Sibbi, Ziarat, Kalat and Khuzdar.
Afzal added that the National Transport and Forwarding Company (NTDC) is carrying out restoration efforts.
117 substations in Islamabad affected
Meanwhile, in Islamabad, nearly 117 substations were affected due to the fault, said a spokesman for the Islamabad Electricity Supply Company.
“System maintenance is directly monitored from the central control room and power is restored gradually to protect the system from damage,” he told Dawn.com.
The spokesperson clarified that restoration is underway at 132kV substations at Zero Point, Rawal, F-16, F-6, D-12, F-6, I-8 and Chaklala, adding that it will take some time to completely repair the system.