HYDERABAD/MIRPURKHAS: Hours-long “forced loadshedding”, carried out to protect NTDC system made lives of consumers miserable from Saturday night to Sunday amidst sizzling heat in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar and other districts dependent on power transmission system of the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco).

Prolonged outages were reported till Sunday afternoon as the Hesco authorities kept shutting down various feeders on a rotation basis from its 132kV grid stations. Power utility management attributed this forced loadshedding to an ‘advice’ of the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) in order to avoid damage to its power transformers installed at the 500kV grid station in Jamshoro.

The forced load-shedding started at around Saturday-Sunday midnight, leading to an outcry on the social media by activists and other concerned citizens who lambasted Hesco for testing nerves of power consumers, who are already enduring sizzling weather conditions, facing inflated power bills and unbearable electricity tariff.

Many parts Hyderabad city plunged into darkness at around midnight as if some major breakdown had hit the national grid. Hesco authorities remained unavailable until Sunday morning to offer any explanation.

Consumers left to bake in suffocating hot and humid weather conditions

People have been bearing suffocating hot and humid weather conditions since the first heatwave hit Sindh. Complaints of unending frequency of power outages continued to pour in. The recent spells of rainfall have provided only a short-lived relief as suffocating climate conditions still persist.

Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Zain Ul Abiden Memon spoke to the Hesco authorities to know the reason behind this forced loadshedding in the city. Sharing details of his conversation with Hesco officers, the DC told Dawn over phone that overheating and suffocating environment posed threat to the T-1, T-2 and T-8 transformers of NTDC at its 500kV grid station in Jamshoro.

“In order to protect their system, NTDC wanted Hesco to go for forced load-shedding to offload transformers lest they would collapse outright,” the DC said.

Mr Memon said that adverse climate conditions had a negative bearing on the NTDC system as well because speed of winds turned almost negligible; and when winds started blowing on Sunday morning at a relatively faster speed, this helped NTDC system to sustain its power load.

“It’s in fact both overloading and overheating of system that Hesco opted for the forced loadshedding,” he said.

He acknowledged that people indeed faced tremendous difficulties since last light and they rightly complained that power supply kept eluding them for about eight to 10 hours. He said NTDC transformers could invariably sustain an environmental temperature of 50 to 55 degrees Centigrade but if it would exceed 60 degrees Centigrade, this could potentially harm the entire system. “Forced loadshedding by Hesco was grid-wise which continued till Sunday morning,” he said.

Hesco spokesman Sadiq Kubar said that under the forced loadshedding regime, all feeders had to be shut down on a rotation basis on NTDC’s advice. He said that this forced loadshedding was effected between 2am and 5:30am on Sunday.

“NTDC’s 500kV grid supplies power to step down grid of 220kV and then electricity reaches 132kV grid stations of Hesco,” he said. He said feeders in Hesco’s territorial jurisdiction right up to Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts had to be shut down rotationally.

The approved shutdown was also given effect due to ongoing road widening work of Autobhan Road, he added.

The entire Mirpurkhas district experienced 12 hours of loadshedding since Saturday midnight creating a host of problems for people intending to leave for livelihood in the morning hours. They had to pass a sleepless night due to dysfunctional fans and electrical appliances amid extremely hot weather. Besides, the city faced water shortage as pumping machines could not be operated due to the prolonged outage.

Dozens of citizens fell unconscious and were taken to the civil hospital and other public and private health facilities for treatment of heatstroke and related diseases.

Routine business, trade and commercial activities across the city and other towns of the district remained suspended while roads and streets wore a deserted look till evening.

Groups of angry people held demonstrations in Pak Colony, Satellite Town and Hameedpura Colony over the, what they called, “tyrannical loadshedding”.

In Dadu city, a Hesco team led by Superintending Engineer Zahoor Ahmed Noonari and Executive Engineer Nisar Ahmed Gadhi cut off around 500 connections as part of a drive against “power thieves” The area covered in the drive on Sunday included Moro road, Jagatabad, Mazdoorabad and Kachehri road.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2024