LAHORE: Amid persisting hot and humid weather, the worst power tripping, forced, scheduled and unscheduled loadshedding is badly affecting the routine life of consumers.

On the other hand, hours-long shutdowns, particularly on Sundays, on the pretext “repair and maintenance” are also spoiling the leisure time for the residents of various localities in the provincial capital.

“For the last couple of days, worst power tripping and unscheduled loadshedding has been continuing in our area, especially in the evening and night hours. But, there is literally no one to listen to the gripes of the consumers and resolve their issue despite such a hot and humid weather,” deplores a Johar

Town resident, near Ayub Chowk.

“Besides, a scheduled loadshedding for a couple of hours and power shutdowns for over six hours, on the pretext of ‘maintenance’ on every Sunday, are also being observed. Previously, such shutdowns used to be observed on any working day,” the resident says, criticising the Lesco administration for taking least interest in resolving the issues being faced by the consumers.

“The consumer service on the part of Lesco is really pathetic,” says another consumer residing in nearby Khayaban-e-Jinnah, where the worst brownouts are continuing for the last few days.

He adds that such outages also damage electric home appliances. He also complained of “pathetic” Lesco service and harassment by the company officials forcing consumers to pay bills.

The areas where the forced or scheduled loadshedding, tripping and the electricity-related issues are being reported include Johar Town, Ichhra, Old Anarkali, Rehmanpura, Gulberg, Multan Road, Thokar Niaz Baig, Chuburji, localities near Batapur, Shahdra, Manga etc.

“Sudden faults are also disturbing us badly. A couple of days ago, our area transformer went out of order due to the overloaded system, leaving many houses without light for almost 18 hours or so. The issue was finally resolved after we approached someone influential,” he maintained.

Talking to Dawn, a Lesco official blamed the overloaded system, especially in the evening and night hours, or electricity shortfall, for these issues.

“In fact, the use of air conditioners has increased manifold during the evening and night hours, increasing the power demand of the Lesco. This leaves no option for the company to observe forced loadshedding,” he said.

To a question he said, during the day hours, the use of solar power by a number of consumers makes the system work smoothly.

“But as soon as the use of solar power ends in the evening and consumers switch to Lesco system, system becomes overloaded, resulting in forced loadshedding,” he argued.

Another Lesco official said on the condition of anonymity that loadshedding in the areas like Batapur, Manga and various rural areas of Kasur district is a result of the high-loss feeders policy. “The areas where power theft is frequent fall under ‘loss-making feeders’. So under the policy, such areas must face loadshedding,” he explained.

“However, the Lesco must ensure availability of the best possible services in the areas where the consumers are paying their bills regularly and are not involved in power theft or other illegalities,” he said.

Both Lesco chief executive officer (CEO) and spokesperson were not available for their comments despite calls made by this reporter for their stance.

Meanwhile, the Lesco administration claims to continue carrying out operations against power theft.

According to a press release, Lesco teams removed six transformers and seven electricity meters and arrested three people during operations against power theft and defaulters in Kasur Circle. The operations were carried out in Jambar Kalan and Kanganpur subdivisions of Phoolnagar and Chuniya divisions, respectively.

The Lesco teams also recovered Rs200,000 in outstanding dues from five defaulters and seized PVC cables.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2026