Electricity users suffer as stakeholders play blame game.

ISLAMABAD -- Under high summer temperatures, electricity consumers across the country, particularly those in Karachi, continue to face the brunt of power breakdowns and loadshedding as the stakeholders remain engaged in blame game for the crisis.

The power regulator - Nepra - is taking 'serious notice' of media reports during the last couple of days about 'excessive and unannounced' loadshedding in Karachi, followed by Hyderabad and Sukkur service areas and then by all distribution companies across the country.

The power division of the federal government, on the other hand, has played down any electricity shortage at the national level and blamed the inadequate distribution and transmission capability of K-Electric (KE) to off-take additional 500MW from the national grid offered by the government. Officials said the national grid was operating with a surplus of almost 1000MW and could easily spare half of that for Karachi.

The private power utility KE serving the country's largest city, meanwhile, appears to be shifting the responsibility of electricity shortages to the federal entities and sudden rise in industrial and business activities for higher demand. A meeting of the board of directors of KE 'expressed serious concern' over sufferings of the consumers as it reported difficulties were caused by 'national level shortages' of fuel.

The Ministry of Energy in a statement said the federal government had gone out of its way to offer 500MW of additional supply to ease sufferings of the people and businesses but KE system constraints were a hurdle. It said the increased loadshedding in Karachi by KE was wrongly being 'attributed to non-availability of fuel by the federal government'.

Power division says no shortage at national level; KE blames furnace oil, gas shortages for the crisis

It said the government was providing 800MW electricity to KE and was ready to provide additional 500MW. It blamed KE for the problem, saying the 'system up-gradation on part of KE has not taken place at the appropriate level and with appropriate investment'.

It said keeping in view welfare of the people of Karachi, the federal cabinet had already approved provision of additional 1,100MW from the national grid to KE but its network was not able to absorb the additional electricity at present and its system up-gradation would go on until 2022-23 to fully take the additional supply.

Moreover, the power division said the supply of LNG was also available but on...