2021 Pakistan blackout

The 2021 Pakistan blackout was a power outage that occurred across Pakistan on January 9, 2021.

Cause
The Power Minister Omar Ayub cited the reason that at 11.41pm local time (1841 GMT) on Saturday January 9, the blackout was caused by “an engineering fault” in Guddu power plant in southern Pakistan which tripped the system and caused power plants to shut down.

Areas affected
Areas affected by power cuts include the capital Islamabad, along with major cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Muzaffargarh, Narowal, Bhakkar, Kabirwala, Khanewal, Bahawalpur and Sukkur. Between 80 and 90 per cent electricity supply was suspended during the blackout.

Impact
The blackout affected the operations of airports as well as forced the hospitals to use their backup generators. An inquiry was also conducted by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to probe the incident and imposed a fine of Rs50 million on the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC). NEPRA stated the reason that the NTDC failed to ensure the supply of electricity in a timely manner.