A power failure at midnight on the eve of July 29 didn't really cause a furor. After all, it had just started to drizzle. "I thought it to be typical KESC behaviour," said Haris Ashraf, an IT consultant, with a shrug. "I was attending a wedding at the time and the minute it started to rain, the lights in the hall went out. Thankfully, there was a standby generator," he added.
Little did he or anyone else for that matter know that they were in for a long night. It wasn't a routine power shutdown which all Karachiites are used to during the monsoons. News reports revealed that there was a massive breakdown in the transmission system of the KESC, which led to almost 75 per cent of the city reeling without electricity for a long stretch. Almost all areas around Karachi were heavily affected.
At this point, it is important to note that when anyone mentions a power breakdown, especially in the more up-scale areas, the first response is: "So what? They probably had a generator or UPS!"
But a generator needs petrol or gas to work and a UPS is actually is as limited as it can get. A UPS needs a certain amount of time to recharge its battery and when the battery runs out, well, its back to the dark ages in the truest sense of the word. "I live in Askari IV and we were without electricity for about 10 hours," complained Sana Siddiqui, a business student. "We tried calling the KESC but nobody answered the phone. Our UPS ran out after two hours," she added.
"Our electricity went out around four in the morning and the UPS went dead after two hours. The power was restored at 7.30," said Meena Ahmed, a resident of F.B. Area.
Mahwash Ajaz, a psychology teacher at a private university, also expressed her disgust at the state of affairs. "We (in Defence Phase 2) were out of power for a cumulative 24/48 hours. The UPS kept tripping since it never got the chance to charge. And on the night of July 28, it was gone for eight hours. I called all complaint numbers but three of those numbers were busy and no one picked up on the other four," she said.
"I live in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and we were without electricity from one in the night to 8:30 a.m. in the morning. And during this time, both our generator/UPS stopped did not work for five hours," said Hira Jawed, a professional.
The downpour on Tuesday evening last week only made matters worse. While rain was a welcome relief in the suffocating weather which has been plaguing the city for the past week, it also gave the KESC a good reason to shut off electricity for an even longer time.
"We had a five-hour power failure during the rain," said Sana. "It had just started drizzling around 7.30 p.m. when the KESC disconnected the power supply," she added.
"In Gulshan-e-Iqbal we had a power failure of about four to five hours during the rains. We had generator which we had to keep on starting again and again," complained Fizza Hassan, a student
Since power breakdowns are so common in the city, what can one do to deal with everyday crisis?
"Whether this is a result of a rift between KESC's top people and the government's stand to privatise it or a genuine shortage of power, the government needs to realize that we need an effective measure to this solution," said Mahwish Ajaz. "People are suffering as much as they possibly can. Life for an average Pakistani is tougher now than it ever was. With inflation and the bleak economic scenario, we add power shortage to the mix, how in the world can we not expect Pakistanis to shoot each other on-spot, with all the frustration? The heads of the government, power management committee and now the Thar coal reserves committee needs to find effective measures to use the reserves to make life easier for the people," she elaborated.
"I don't think there is any short-term solution," said Hira. "The authorities should focus on reducing transmission losses in the distribution network. This will involve investment but the return should be worth it. Also, I feel that Independent Power Producers (IPP) should be encouraged."
Other solutions include power generation from alternative sources. It is interesting to note that very few people actually consider kunda connections as something which puts a load on the power supply and causes the system to trip routinely.
And that is where the role of the average Karachiite comes in. Yes, the KESC may be inefficient and no one enjoys prolonged breakdowns of electricity but at the end of the day, one must think about who is putting extra load on the distribution systems. It is only when average citizens are conscious of the electricity connections in their own house that they can actually demand quality service.
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