Power was restored to most cities in Pakistan on Tuesday after a day of power outages across much of the country of 220 million people. during the night, but the shutdown continued in other areas. The capital Islamabad and other cities such as Rawalpindi, Quetta, Peshawar and Gujranwala announced the restoration of electricity supply. Some rural areas of Pakistan are still waiting for power to be restored. The fault caused a power outage on Monday at 07:30 local time (02:30 GMT). The power outage came amid cost-cutting measures taken amid the economic crisis. Mobile phone services were interrupted due to a power outage, according to what was announced by the Pakistan Communications Authority. Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said on Monday evening that power was gradually being restored.
Khan confirmed the outage was due to frequency fluctuations in the national grid when the power units were restarted on Monday morning after they were temporarily shut down overnight in the winter to conserve fuel.
Power outages are common in Pakistan, with a complex and shaky distribution system. The shutdown did not affect hospitals, factories and government centers, as most of them are equipped with generators, but homes and small shops were affected. This is the second such case in just two years in the country.
A similar outage in January 2021 plunged Pakistan into darkness for hours after an “engineering malfunction” in the south caused cascading outages across the country. The power outage problem is recurring in Pakistan, but the situation has worsened in recent months as deteriorating financial conditions exacerbate power supply difficulties.