Over 24 hours after a nationwide blackout that hampered people’s lives and businesses, the Ministry of Energy on Tuesday morning claimed that all grid stations that had gone offline have been “restored,” but warned that ‘load management’—i.e. loadshedding—will persist for at least 2 more days as the national grid returns to full capacity.
“All 1,112 grid stations restored within 24 hours nationwide,” the ministry claimed in a posting on Twitter. In a subsequent press conference, Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir-Khan said that due to nuclear and coal power plants requiring 48-72 hours to return to full capacity, “limited load management” would continue due to the shortfall.
Emphasizing that industries would be exempt from the expected power cuts, he said domestic consumers nationwide would experience load-shedding. To a question on the reasons behind the blackout, he said there had been no damage to any transmission lines, nor had any other disaster been reported. However, he clarified, the exact reason remained unknown and further details would be made public after an investigation team constituted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had completed its probe. While noting that it was unlikely there was any “external intervention,” he said it would still be considering during the investigation.
“January nights have the lowest electricity demand in the year,” he said, explaining that demand on Sunday night had been just 8,615MW compared to the more than 30,000MW required in June. “When we ramp down the system with the decreasing demand, we turn several power plants off,” he said, adding this an economic measure to conserve fuel and prevent electricity bills from rising further. Vowing to ensure that similar incidents did not recur, he acknowledged that it was essential to upgrade the country’s transmission system.
Some outages persist
Despite the Energy Ministry’s claims, some parts of Karachi continue to remain without power, with K-Electric claiming that re-establishing connectivity between Karachi and the national grid had improved supply, but important installations such as airports, hospitals, water pumping stations were being prioritized until the full capacity could be restored. The organization warned that until the system had stabilized “temporary load management” would continue.
Similarly, the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) issued a statement clarifying that even though power had been restored citywide on Monday night, persistent frequency issues required loadshedding. It said uninterrupted power supply would resume as soon as the situation improved. Electricity was also partially restored across Balochistan, with the Quetta Electricity Supply Company claiming the process should be completed by tonight.
Business losses
Local media claimed that the mass power outage had inflicted an estimated Rs. 100 billion in losses to various businesses, as industries struggled to function without any electricity. Businessmen demanded the government ensure such incidents do not repeat, stressing that the country was already in the midst of an economic crunch and could not afford further hindrances.
This isn’t the first time Pakistan has suffered a mass power outage; over the past 5 years, breakdowns have occurred in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Authorities often blame Pakistan’s outdated transmission system, but little has been done to fix this prevailing issue.