Pakistan power outage: Parts of Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi in dark for hours

Large parts of major Pakistani cities were left in the dark on Monday following a power breakdown. The power cut occurred after the frequency of the national grid decreased, according to the Ministry of Energy. 

The ministry said that the frequency of the national grid went down at 7:34 am today, which resulted in widespread breakdown in the system. It said that the system maintenance work is progressing rapidly. 

Dawn News had earlier reported that large parts of the country including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, and Peshawar did not have electricity. 

According to Islamabad Electric Supply Co (IESCO) that supplies electricity to Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, and Chakwal said in Urdu that power supply to 117 grid stations of IESCO has been suspended, and no clear reason has been given by the Region Control Center. It said that IESCO management is in constant communication with the concerned authorities.

Energy minister Khurram Dastgir told Geo News that the breakdown was not major and that electricity would be restored within 12 hours. He said that due to reduced electricity demand in the winter and because of economic measures, they shut down their power generation systems at night. But when they turned the systems on Monday morning, there was frequency and voltage fluctuation in the south of the country between Dadu and Jamshoro.

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